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Even for seasoned veterans like Julie Vanloo and Tiffany Hayes, who have a combined 29 years of professional basketball experience, the Golden State Valkyries' historic WNBA debut was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. While the Valkyries could not pull off the inaugural debut victory in front of the 18,604 Chase Center fans, Hayes and Vanloo both took in the momentous occasion.
In the duo's joint post-game press conference, per ClutchPoints' Kenzo Fukuda, Hayes recounted her experience of the Valkyries' opening night.
“I enjoyed myself,” Hayes said with excitement. “It was a tough game, but all in all, they gave us a lot of life out there. Wish we could have gave them a little bit more back. But at the end of the day, it’s the first game for us. Like we said, we know we have a lot to learn. But for me, I know we had a lot of fun out there, and I enjoyed the energy from the crowd.”
“I enjoyed myself, it was a tough game but all in all, they gave us a lot of life out there.”
Valkyries Tiffany Hayes said on the sold out crowd.
“Wish we could have gave them more back but at the end of the day, it’s the first hame for us and I know we have a lot to learn.” pic.twitter.com/ktPEdumlLK
— Kenzo Fukuda (@kenzofuku) May 17, 2025
Vanloo also felt the energy from the loud Valkyries crowd. There was an energy in the building all night long reminiscent of the height of the old “Roaracle” crowd back in the Warriors' days in Oakland. The Belgian point guard talked about feeding on the crowd's hype during her three 3-pointers in a row.
“The crowd was just amazing. It just goes through your veins, your whole body. It was just a special moment.” Vanloo smiled. She was asked a follow-up about if the crowd helped fuel the Valkyries' late comeback push. “I said in the huddle right before [the comeback] happened, ‘We got to get the crowd with us,' because we know how much of a difference it can make. We already got a taste in the preseason game of how much the crowd can really be a sixth man for us.”
While the comeback attempt came up short, Hayes and Vanloo emerged as two positives for the team moving forward. Hayes finished the game with a team high of 19 points and 9 rebounds, while Vanloo finished with 14 points and four 3-pointers. The duo's one-two punch, with Hayes' downhill driving and Vanloo's deadeye shooting, will be interesting to monitor moving forward. Especially if Natalie Nakase moves to add Vanloo to the starting five.
An interesting point in Tiffany Hayes and Julie Vanloo's careers
It's an interesting time in Hayes' career considering where she was two years ago. Hayes has been a WNBA lifer since being drafted by the Atlanta Dream in 2012. Hayes was a real staple of the Dream franchise; she reached the WNBA finals and earned two All-Star appearances with the team.
In 2023, Hayes announced her retirement from the WNBA following a season with the Connecticut Sun. But not long after, the then reigning champion Las Vegas Aces signed her out of retirement, to the benefit of both parties. Hayes won the 2024 Sixth-Player of the Year award, averaging 9.5 points as the Aces' sparkplug scorer of the bench.
For Vanloo, this is only her second season in the WNBA. Vanloo spent most of her professional career overseas, oscillating between countries like Australia, France, Turkey, Sweden, and, of course, Belgium, her home country. Last season, Vanloo joined the WNBA through the Washington Mystics, starting 34 games for the team.
With the Valkyries, both will be asked to do a little bit more than what they've been used to. Right now, Golden State lacks a definitive go-to scorer as well as a de facto point guard. That tends to happen to new franchises assembled through an expansion draft. And it showed throughout the game versus the Sparks, especially when they pulled away in the fourth quarter. In the same press conference, Hayes talked about what went wrong late in the game.
“I think we just got a little bit stagnant. Our offense and our defense. We let the hot girl get hot,” Hayes said, referring to Kelsey Plum, her former Aces teammate. “At the end of the day, we just got to learn from our mistakes on defense. Learn to make [the ball] go to someone cold. Not let the hot person keep getting those shots off. Other than that, I think we're good. And besides turnovers, we had way too many turnovers, especially in that fourth quarter.”
While Hayes and Vanloo have only played together for less than a month, they might be the Valkyries' primary backcourt duo moving forward. They, along with Nakase and the rest of the team, understand what they have to clean up. In the same press conference, Vanloo talked about the team needing to stick together in a predictably difficult adjustment period.
“We're new. Everything is new. We've got to work through it,” Vanloo said. I've been on a team where we struggled from the start to the end of the season with Washington. But we stick together, that's what I learned from playing with D.C,” Vanloo explained. “No matter what happens, we've got to stick together and keep learning from it. It's going to be a process for us with a lot of ups and downs. As long as we stick together and learn from our mistakes, I don't see any problems for this team.”
