Valkyries Coach Natalie Nakase Collapsed Late in a Playoff Game. Then She Helped Her Team Make History.

Down one point with less than two minutes remaining in an elimination Game 3 of the WNBA playoffs, the Valkyries were well within reach of making franchise history.

In just its second season in the league, Golden State was on the brink of clinching its first-ever playoff series in a winner-take-all matchup against the Wings on home court.

Dallas took a timeout at 1:40 to reset its bearings, and ESPN’s cameras focused on Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase, who was talking to a ref. Suddenly, Nakase fell to the ground for a brief period and appeared to be dazed and a little shaken up. Valkyries athletic trainer Katelin Knox quickly came to her side as Nakase was helped up following the scary moment. Nakase then returned to the Valkryies’ bench and led the team’s huddle, as if nothing had happened.

Natalie Nakase goes down, I hope she is ok pic.twitter.com/Xjm5AVp49C
— Danielle H. (@DanielleHobeika) October 3, 2026

Out of the timeout, the Valkyries got a key stop, and star forward Gabby Williams sank a mid-range pull-up jumper to take a 73–72 lead. Golden State never looked back and kept its lead all the way until the end, beating the Wings 77–73 and writing itself into the W's history books.

More important questions lingered, though. Was Nakase alright? The Valkyries coach was feeling exhausted and lightheaded when she collapsed, according to ESPN’s Kendra Andrews, but was fine after the game. In light of the health scare, Nakase handed off her press conference duties to assistant coach Kasib Powell, who said she was talking, laughing and in great spirits.

“Didn't miss a beat,” Powell said of Nakase’s collapse. "We were locked in as that happened, when she went to the sidelines she drew the next play up, she was in the huddle getting on them about getting a stop, so she didn't skip a beat at all. We tried to keep our composure and just rally around each other and her.”

Powell didn’t reveal exactly what had happened to Nakase but said the team was still “trying to figure it out.”

Led by Nakase, Valkyries storm back from 16-point deficit to win their first WNBA playoff series

Nakase staying in the game to coach Golden State may have proved the difference in an extremely tight game between two teams fighting for survival. After Williams’s go-ahead jumper, Golden State got two stops on Wings star offensive duo Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale.

A few plays later, Nakase’s biggest coaching moment came when she called for a pivotal challenge on an out-of-bounds call, with 13 seconds left on the clock and Golden State still holding a precarious one-point lead. Williams had stepped out of bounds on the baseline but came back in to chase an offensive rebound and keep the ball in play. The officials initially deemed she was out of bounds when she touched the ball, but the challenge proved successful: A replay video showed the tip of Williams’s shoe touched the court before Williams had possession of the ball.

Gabby Williams got her right foot down, successful challenge pic.twitter.com/lG0yRYwEv1
— Danielle H. (@DanielleHobeika) October 3, 2026

It was the challenge that may have saved the series. The Valks got the ball back at a critical moment and gritted out the final seconds to make sweet playoff history, advancing to the WNBA semifinals where they will face the defending champ Aces.

Williams finished with a team-high 19 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter, with Valkyries guards Veronica Burton and Tiffany “Tip” Hayes also showing up big with their season on the line (Burton had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the first double-double in Valkyries playoff history, and Hayes had 18 points off the bench).

Golden State’s resilient comeback win from down 16 in the third quarter marked the fifth largest in a do-or-die game in WNBA playoff history, per ESPN’s Alexa Philippou. It was the largest since the Aces’ 16-point comeback against the Sun in Game 5 of the 2020 semifinals. The Valks’ players showed plenty of poise and composure for a team that’s playing in just its second career postseason, but the team shouldn’t take its coaching for granted, either. Thankfully O.K. after her collapse, Nakase brought her defensive mind and tactical smarts when her team needed her most.

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