The Golden State Valkyries are WNBA champions. They beat the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in Game 7 of the Finals in San Francisco on Saturday night, winning the title in only their second season in the league and in the first winner-take-all Game 7 in WNBA Finals history. The series finished 4-3 to Golden State, with both teams seeking a first championship.

Finals MVP Gabby Williams led the way with 30 points, 28 of them in the second half, the most points in any half of a postseason game in WNBA history according to ESPN's reporting. Golden State trailed by six points at half-time in front of a crowd of 18,000 at the Chase Center, where fans had turned out in costume on Halloween night. Williams scored 15 points in the third quarter alone, including 15 consecutive Valkyries points spanning the third and fourth quarters, to turn the game around.

The closing minutes

The game was tied at 53-53 in the fourth quarter before Williams scored nine straight points for Golden State, including a deep three-pointer with just over two minutes left that put the Valkyries 60-57 ahead. They did not trail again. Veronica Burton hit two free throws with 5.1 seconds remaining to seal the win. Williams finished the seven-game series with 137 points, passing the previous WNBA Finals series record of 114 set by Las Vegas Aces star A'ja Wilson.

A second-season title

The Valkyries became the first team in the league to win a championship without a single All-WNBA selection in the same season, and one of only a handful of expansion teams across the major North American leagues to win a title within their first two seasons. For Atlanta, the defeat ended a run to a first Finals appearance in a series that went the full distance, with the Dream's challenge falling just short in a low-scoring decider in which neither side ever led by double figures.