Gabby Williams refused to let the Golden State Valkyries lose on Halloween night, scoring 28 of her 30 points in the second half as the Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in the first Game 7 in WNBA Finals history on Saturday, October 31, 2026, at Chase Center in San Francisco. The win gave Golden State its first championship in only the franchise's second season, making the Valkyries the fastest expansion team in the history of North America's major professional leagues to win a title.
Williams, who had scored just two points in a dreadful first half for both teams, caught fire after the break and broke the WNBA Finals record for points in a half. She was named the 2026 WNBA Finals MVP after a performance that turned a six-point halftime deficit into a championship, sealed by a 31-foot three-pointer with just over two minutes left and a jump-ball win in the final seconds as violet confetti fell from the Chase Center ceiling.
The game began as if both teams had been spooked by the occasion. Atlanta missed its first 10 shots and committed two turnovers while Golden State jumped out to an 8-0 lead, and for a while it looked as though the home team would coast, just as the home team had won 11 of the last 13 winner-take-all games in Finals history. Then the rim opened for Atlanta's stars and closed for Golden State, in a complete reversal that defined a strange, low-scoring first half.
Angel Reese and Allisha Gray dragged the Dream back into the game, and Atlanta took a two-point lead into the second quarter. A 9-0 run led by guard Jordin Canada stretched the Dream's advantage to its largest of the night, and six minutes into the second quarter Golden State's offensive struggles were stark: no field goals since the final seconds of the first quarter, and only three free throws to show for the period. Both teams were ice-cold from three-point range. Golden State missed its first 10 attempts from deep until Kayla Thornton finally connected with three minutes left in the half, ending a drought of more than seven minutes without a field goal.
It was the ninth time in this Finals series that a team failed to reach 30 points in a half, and the Dream went into the break ahead 30-24. The second half belonged to one player. Williams, who had been held to two points before halftime, scored 15 in the third quarter alone, hitting three three-pointers as the Valkyries clawed back. Cecilia Zandalasini cut the deficit to five, the long-range shots finally started falling for both sides, and Golden State closed the quarter on a 17-3 run, with Williams' jumper giving the Valkyries a 45-44 lead heading into the fourth.
Williams opened the final quarter with a pull-up jumper, and Golden State stretched the lead to five early in the period. Atlanta fought back, and a Gray jumper tied the game at 53 midway through the fourth. That was when Williams took over completely. With the score tied, she scored nine straight points for Golden State, including a deep 31-foot three-pointer that made it 60-57 with 2:18 remaining. It was a lead the Valkyries would not give up. They pushed the advantage to seven points with under a minute to go, and although the Dream trimmed it back to three with eight seconds left, Williams won the decisive jump ball and the celebration began.
Williams finished 10-of-23 from the field, including four three-pointers, and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, adding three rebounds, two assists, four blocks and two steals. The four blocks underlined a defensive performance to match the scoring explosion from a player who finished as runner-up for the league's Defensive Player of the Year award. For Atlanta, Canada led the way with 18 points, Gray added 16, and Reese was held to eight points on a quiet offensive night, although her 12 rebounds took her series total to 90, a WNBA Finals record. Veteran DeWanna Bonner finished with four points but reached a milestone of her own, becoming the first player in league history to reach 600 career postseason defensive rebounds.
Golden State's championship completes one of the most remarkable rapid rises in modern professional sport. The franchise was awarded in 2023 and made its debut in 2025, finishing 23-21 and becoming the first expansion franchise in WNBA history to reach the playoffs in its first year. A title in year two beats the previous record for a major North American expansion team, held by the Milwaukee Bucks, who won the NBA championship in 1970-71 after three seasons.
The Finals series itself was a war of attrition, defined by low scores and wild swings. Golden State took Game 1 by 68-64, Atlanta answered to force the series on, and the Valkyries moved within one win of the title with a 64-55 victory in Game 5 at Chase Center. Atlanta refused to fold, winning Game 6 by 80-69 in front of its own fans to force the first deciding game the WNBA Finals had ever seen, setting up a Halloween night winner-take-all showdown in San Francisco.
Williams' own journey made the night sweeter. The 30-year-old former fourth overall pick spent time in Chicago and Seattle before joining the Valkyries this season, and she had won championships in college and overseas without ever lifting a WNBA trophy. She had also fallen just short on the biggest international stages with France, losing the gold-medal game to the United States at the 2024 Paris Olympics by a single point and losing a FIBA World Cup final earlier this year. On Saturday night, in her first chance on the WNBA's biggest stage, she would not be denied.
The turning point was patience, on the bench as much as on the floor. Williams revealed after the game that head coach Natalie Nakase, in only her second season in charge, had told her to stay patient during a first half in which nothing would fall. Williams listened. When the second half began, she attacked from all over the court, and the Chase Center crowd, which had been subdued by the first-half scoring drought, found its voice as the comeback gathered pace.
The numbers tell the story of the turnaround. Golden State scored 24 points in the entire first half and 44 in the second. Williams scored two points in the first half and 28 in the second, including 15 in the third quarter, when her three three-pointers erased a nine-point deficit. The 17-3 run that closed the third quarter flipped the game, and the nine straight points she scored with the game tied at 53 in the fourth broke Atlanta's resistance for good.
Atlanta's own first-half formula deserted it when it mattered most. The Dream had survived their dreadful 0-for-10 start and built a lead on defence and second-chance effort, but in the fourth quarter they could not find an answer for Williams, and Reese, who had been so dominant on the boards all series, could not produce the scoring burst the Dream needed. The Dream's fourth trip to the Finals ended, like the previous three, without a championship.
Williams was blunt about her mindset as the confetti fell. "I wasn't going to lose on Halloween," she told the USA Network broadcast. "Honestly, everyone here, not just the players but the staff, the community, the city, the Bay - y'all have been pouring into me all season. This is a long season and y'all gave me energy every single night. Tonight, we were down and I hit a shot, it felt like we were up 20. ... It's easy when the energy is just good. It was so easy coming to work every single day and that's what I came for."
She also credited her coach for the second-half explosion. "I love moments like this," Williams said. "Coach Natalie told me to be patient in the first half. I listened to her." Nakase, asked how she had built a championship team so quickly, pointed to the culture inside the young squad. "We had unconditional love that is unbreakable," she said. "This is proof that if you put in all your heart, all your soul, you can win championships."
Owner Joe Lacob, who also owns the Golden State Warriors and their four NBA titles under his ownership, celebrated with his players on the court and made good on a promise he had made to fans three years ago, that the team would win a title within its first five years of existence. "We have an incredible team," Lacob told his players. "You guys are incredible. What you guys did was unbelievable." He then screamed "Ballhalla" - the nickname for the Valkyries' home - as the crowd roared.
This championship matters far beyond one Saturday night in San Francisco because it rewrites what an expansion team is supposed to be able to do. New franchises are meant to take years to contend, to accumulate draft picks, endure losing seasons and slowly build an identity. The Valkyries skipped that script entirely: playoffs in year one, champions in year two, in a league celebrating its 30th season. Every future expansion team, in the WNBA and beyond, will now be measured against a standard that did not exist before this weekend.
It also matters for the WNBA itself. The first Game 7 in Finals history delivered exactly the drama the league could have wished for: a record-setting individual performance, a comeback from a halftime deficit, a tie game midway through the fourth quarter, and a finish decided in the final seconds. The series showcased two genuine stars in Williams and Reese, a Finals rebounding record, and a milestone for one of the league's great veterans in Bonner. A championship decided this way, on Halloween night, in front of a deafening home crowd, is the kind of night that turns casual viewers into permanent fans.
For Williams personally, the title completes a career that had everything except this. College champion, overseas champion, Olympic silver medallist by a single point, World Cup finalist - and now, at 30, a WNBA champion and Finals MVP, with a second-half performance that will be replayed for years. The record for points in a half of a Finals game now belongs to her, and it was set when her team needed every single one of them.
The Valkyries will celebrate with a championship parade in the Bay Area in the coming days, with details to be confirmed by the team and the city, and the franchise will now face the very different challenge of defending a title rather than chasing one. Williams, the Finals MVP, heads into the offseason as one of the faces of the league, and Golden State's front office must decide how to keep a championship core together while the rest of the league studies how the fastest champions in expansion history were built.
For Atlanta, the offseason brings harder questions. A fourth Finals defeat, this time after leading at halftime of a deciding game, leaves the Dream still searching for a first title despite a roster built around Reese, Gray and Canada. The consolation is a young core with Finals experience and a record-breaking rebounder in Reese, but the gap between reaching a Finals and winning one has now been underlined in the cruellest way possible. The 2027 season cannot come soon enough for either team, for opposite reasons.
The Golden State Valkyries beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in Game 7 on Saturday, October 31, 2026, winning the series 4-3 and the franchise's first WNBA championship.
Gabby Williams was named the 2026 WNBA Finals MVP after scoring 30 points in Game 7, including a Finals-record 28 points in the second half. She averaged 19.6 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.6 steals per game across the series.
Golden State won the championship in just its second season, making the Valkyries the fastest expansion team among the NBA, WNBA, NHL and MLB to win a title. The previous record belonged to the Milwaukee Bucks, who won the NBA title in their third season in 1970-71.
Atlanta led 30-24 at halftime after both teams struggled offensively. Golden State scored only 24 first-half points, then outscored the Dream 44-33 in the second half.
No. The Dream have now reached the WNBA Finals four times and have yet to win a championship, after losing the first-ever Finals Game 7 to Golden State.
Related coverage: WNBA Finals Game 6: Dream Surge Ahead as Valkyries Chase First Title, WNBA Finals Game 7 Preview: Dream vs Valkyries Battle for First Title Saturday, and WNBA Finals Game 5: Valkyries Beat Dream 64-55, One Win From First Title.
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