On the first-ever episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball: Valkyries Report, host Matthew Walter is joined by Marisa Ingemi of the San Francisco Chronicle to discuss all things Golden State. The two discuss the successes of players like forward Kayla Thornton, guard Veronica Burton and center Temi Fagbenle, award some mid-season superlatives, and make some predictions for the remainder of this season.
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Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.
Walter opens the episode by pointing to recent news coming out of the Valkyries’ organization; the team waived forward Stephanie Talbot, meaning there’s some room again for center Iliana Rupert. “The plan was for Rupert to join the team after Eurobasket, and then she actually got married,” Ingemi explains. “So she was away for a little bit longer, but she’s supposed to join the team right before they head to Seattle. … They had to make room for her somehow.”
Later on, Walter asks Ingemi who she think is in the running for Valkyries’ rookie of the year. “I think Janelle Salaün,” Ingemi says. “[She] has been so impressive, just WNBA-ready since day one. She jumped in. She won a championship in Italy and then was at that shoot around 48 hours later. She just seemed equipped for this level.”
Walter and Ingemi save the big one — Valkyries’ MVP — for the end. “I’m going to go with the obvious pick, and that’s [Kayla] Thornton,” Ingemi says. “She has had so many big games. She has big rebounding games, big scoring games, she’s had big clutch moments, when the Valkyries have needed her. … It’s pretty obvious she’s been this team’s MVP and why she deserved to be an All-Star this year.”
Make sure to subscribe to the Locked On Women’s Basketball podcast to keep learning about the WNBA, women’s college basketball, basketball history and much more! And make sure continue listening to our four team-specific shows, like this one! Kelly Johnson will host a weekly show about the Las Vegas Aces, Tony East will cover the Indiana Fever, Michelle Smith and Matthew Walter will host a show on the Golden State Valkyries, and Terry Horstman will provide a weekly podcast on the Minnesota Lynx.
