Young girls skip school with their parents to attend Valkyries' early WNBA Finals watch party
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Sika Lopez took 11-year-old daughter Kendra out of school Thursday to be part of the early morning watch party outside Chase Center cheering for the Golden State Valkyries.
Lopez grew up in Los Angeles watching Lisa Leslie and the Sparks, and believes being present can impact Kendra chasing her own dreams — so they joined several thousand fans gathering on the plaza at Thrive City outside Chase Center to support Golden State in Game 6 of the WNBA Finals at Atlanta.
“This is such a monumental moment. The Valkyries have worked so hard. When I was her age this wasn’t even possible,” Sika said between clapping along with the others.
“Lisa Leslie growing up, she was larger than life.”
The Valkyries lost 80-69 as Atlanta forced a winner-take-all Game 7 back in the Bay Area on Saturday. It will be the first seventh game in WNBA Finals history, and one team will capture its first championship.
The loss hardly kept Golden State fans from celebrating what this means for women's basketball in the Bay Area and far beyond. Wendy Franklin-Willis and longtime friend Liz Shaw couldn't wait for one more.
“She played hooky for this,” Shaw said of Franklin-Willis, a middle school teacher in the East Bay suburb of Castro Valley. “I love the community and we're behind the Valkyries. No matter what happens.”
Added Franklin-Willis: “They've already won by getting here, a second-year expansion team, no real superstar, such the way the game should be played, and here they are, a game away.”
“This is incredible,” Franklin-Willis said. “You have two teams, Atlanta's been to the final but has never won, you have two teams with young players. You have the misfit, poised Valkyries against Atlanta, yeah, amazing." Earlier, hundreds of hands raised when energetic in-arena host Ari Waller asked if fans had taken a day off work or school to attend the violet-clad watch party, where fans received rally towels upon entry and Violet the beloved raven “bestie” — no, she's not a mascot — danced and posed for photos.
Kendra Lopez missed a day of sixth grade in the East Bay to root on the Valkyries and her favorite player, Kayla Thornton.
“It makes a big difference because the Valkyries are such a young team and to be able to support them so early means something to me,” Kendra said.
Joshua Padilla from Santa Clara felt the same way, bringing his two daughters to San Francisco — 15-year-old high school sophomore Mariah and 10-year-old Malia, who is in fifth grade.
Both girls told their teachers they had doctor appointments, along the lines of what point guard Veronica Burton had suggested when she noted after Game 5, “Call in sick, I recommend it.”
“It's just really special. I'm happy to be here with my sister and my dad, we never really get the quality time,” Mariah said. “I think this is a great way, something we all connect with and we love the Valkyries.”
Despite the early hour and some frustrated supporters about the scrutinized early tipoff time at 9:30 a.m. PDT, “Ballhalla” braved commuter traffic to be in place for this event and watch the game on the big screen, which is 74 feet wide and 42 feet high. Though the Valkyries trailed 46-26 at halftime, being part of this memorable scene meant far more than the score in a game that finished before lunch time on the West Coast.
For Padilla, he knows how important it is to expose his daughters to powerful, athletic women not to mention all of the diversity in the Valkyries' fan base. They considered it a great day no matter who won.
“That's exactly why I wanted to have them come out here, women's sports is thriving right now and it's becoming bigger,” he said. “I actually have four daughters, so being able to come with two of them and support the women and women's sports it just shows them that it's up and coming and there's something to strive for later on down the road.”
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