SAN FRANCISCO — Through the Golden State Valkyries’ first five games of the season, second-year guard Kate Martin struggled to find her role with the expansion team.
She was thrust into the starting lineup on opening night because of injuries and shooting struggles kept her out of coach Natalie Nakase’s regular rotation for the last four games.
Martin, the team’s most popular player after her college years alongside Caitlin Clark at Iowa, played sparingly on the Valkyries’ three-game road trip and was a healthy scratch in a loss to the New York Liberty on Thursday.
But on Sunday, Martin showed why she could be an impact player.
Martin scored a career-high 14 points on 4-of-8 shooting in Golden State’s 86-75 loss to the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Lynx. All 14 points came in a second-quarter flurry that jolted the sellout crowd of 18,064 at Chase Center.
It was the performance the Valkyries and the fanbase had been waiting for since the season started.
“That is the Kate that we know and we love,” Nakase said after the game. “She is adamant with her work ethic. She’s super consistent. She practices like it’s the last possession, every possession. So, credit to Kate and obviously her teammates for finding her at the right time. I was very happy with her 14 points. That’s huge.”
Martin hasn’t viewed her early-season shooting slump — 26.3% from the field entering Sunday — as cause for panic.
“I don’t count missing shots as struggles, I just didn’t make it,” Martin said. “I made some shots tonight and kudos to my teammates for getting me the ball and finding me. Leaning on my teammates is all I really do and I just try to control what I can control.”
Martin didn’t check into Sunday’s game until the second quarter, but she made an instant impact.
She opened her scoring burst with a cutting and-1 layup that drew a loud reaction from the home crowd. On the next possession, she made an identical cut to the same spot and scored from close range once again.
But as Minnesota started to defend Martin’s movement toward the basket, the 6-foot guard decided to start firing from deep.
Martin found herself wide open for 3 on the right wing and buried it to give the Valkyries their first lead of the quarter. After Golden State got a stop on the next possession, Martin ran to the same wing and fired a 3 from NBA range.
She swished it and drew a foul.
After the shot hit bottom, the crowd erupted. Martin was mobbed by her teammates as she single-handedly shifted the momentum of the game in the second quarter.
“We weren’t anywhere near her (defensively),” Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said. “She took advantage of our slower rotation and reaction to what was happening. We were flat-footed, and they played harder and Kate was the recipient of that.”
At halftime with the Valkyries leading by 1, the Lynx keyed in on Martin and held her scoreless in the second half, going on a 32-9 run to open up a big lead.
Still, Martin found ways to contribute.
She grabbed a season-high four rebounds and her movement along the perimeter opened up good looks for the Valkyries during their fourth-quarter run that cut the Lynx’s lead from 22 to 11.
Unlike her years at Iowa with Clark and last season with the star-studded Las Vegas Aces, Martin will need to become more self-sufficient on a Valkyries team that lacks a consistent bucket getter.
Martin is not expected to be the Valkyries’ top scorer, but as a 3-and-D player off the bench, nights like Sunday will go a long way for her to become a regular part of the rotation.
“She came in being aggressive. Played 19 minutes and got eight shots up,” said Minnesota Lynx starting point guard Courtney Williams. “She was being a spark for them and that’s what you’ve got to do to get your minutes up.”
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