Gabby Williams writes herself into Bay Area sports history powering Valkyries' Game 7 win

Golden State Valkyries guard Gabby Williams celebrates her team?s WNBA championship win after Game 7 in San Francisco, Calif. on October 31. (Clara Shuku Mokri for the S.F. Chronicle) Gabby Williams is typically dealing with pre-game jitters when she leaves her Oakland home for Chase Center on game day.Her drive across the Bay serves up all she needs to tame them.The skyline that emerges from across the Bay Bridge is full of purple-lit landmarks. The MUNI buses flash "Go Valkyries" across the front and the streets are lined with Golden State Valkyries billboards."I see a billboard. I see buildings lit up in purple," Williams said. "I see ‘Go Valks' everywhere and all I keep thinking is, ‘I can't lose.'"This is the moment. This is my time to give my everything for this community."Williams has a knack for recognizing her moment. In the Valkyries' Game 7 win over the Atlanta Dream to claim the franchise's first WNBA title, she showed just how high she can rise to meet it.Williams scored 30 points. Twenty-eight of those points came in a decisive second half in which the Valkyries pushed the feisty Dream off to win a title in front of a Ballhalla crowd that has sold out every single home game of this team's existence.Eleven of those 30 points came in the final three minutes of the third quarter, a sequence that saw the Valkyries climb from a six-point deficit to a one-point lead heading into the final quarter of the WNBA season.Williams has done this before. Though she came to the Valkyries best known as a premier defender and pièce de résistance for a Golden State team already built on its defensive identity, Williams has taken over as the closer when her team needed a bucket. She has helped silence opposing teams' comebacks and mount her own with her shooting and aggressiveness going to the rim.The Ballhalla crowd, decked out in their Halloween best and raucous this Saturday night, figured out that Williams was about to take over when she hit back-to-back threes to put Golden State within two points mid-way through the third quarter. They broke into a "Gabby! Gabby!" chant when she paused to take free throws shortly after.Williams' Valkyries teammates knew she would deliver much earlier."At halftime, Gabby was like, ‘I just gotta get going, we're good,'" Veronica Burton said. "And she clearly did that. Of course, once we're rolling, it was over with. Honestly."Kayla Thornton was one teammate that made sure to fuel her fire."I told her, I said ‘Hey, this is your second half," Thornton said. "And once I saw her hit (a three) I said, ‘Oh, it's a wrap. We about to eat, baby.'"Williams' heroics showed up throughout the postseason. She wasn't particularly efficient during the Finals, but no one on the Valkyries shot well. The team shot under 40% from the field in all seven games. But she got what she needed, averaging 19.6 points per game against a Dream defense that ranked third in the league. The 30-year-old did it all while maintaining her elite defense. She had two blocks by the end of the first quarter on Saturday and finished with four on the night as well as two steals. Those reflect her strength as a defender: She's a disruptor, freezing opposing teams' offenses with her length and anticipation."(Natalie Nakase) told me to stay patient. I trust her, I trust her a lot," Williams said. "I stay patient, I do it for her. She said ‘Stay patient, stay patient the game will open up for you' and it did."Williams often credits owner Joe Lacob for wooing her to the Valkyries as a free agent this offseason, promising she was the key to building a true contender. Lacob has since called Williams the best player in the league. After winning the title (Lacob's fifth as an owner, including four with the Golden State Warriors), Lacob doubled down."Best player in the world and I mean it. I said it and I meant it," Lacob said. "What you don't understand, it's not just the 30 points today… how many steals did she have? A bunch of steals and defensive play. She's a two-way player extraordinaire. That's why I think she's the best player in the world."There are some other great players, don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to belittle them. But she just proved it on the highest stage and she did it all."Williams' drive across the bridge more than fuels her fire, it's emblematic of her journey. She grew up in Nevada, but often trekked down that same interstate to visit her aunts, uncles, cousins and extended family in the East Bay. Now she lives just a 10 minute drive from her Bay Area family.She's a child of Alameda and Oakland, too, having spent summers and weekends playing for Mission Rec and the BullDawgs basketball club in Daly City from elementary school through high school.Cameras caught Williams hugging her BullDawgs coach, Alfonso Yoo, amid the confetti after Game 7. She sings along to Too $hort and E-40, Bay Area music legends and mainstays of the local teams' sidelines. She's spoken about learning the Bay Area culture from her cousins, the pressure of winning in front of the musicians she grew up listening to and what it means to play for a Bay Area team."I really hope we can just bring something back to the Bay because I've seen it firsthand," Williams said before the Finals began. "I've seen it with the Warriors. What it means, you know, to kind of build a culture here. Because it's not just about basketball. It's about the entire Bay. "We've talked about losing the Raiders and how that impacted the community, losing the A's. Now we have the Valkyries. Now everyone's wearing lavender, like not even on a game day. You just see lavender everywhere. So that really touches me. Makes me think about when I was young, like what it would have meant to have a team here. It's just an amazing full circle moment for me."On Saturday, Bay Area greats were in the house to watch another athlete add her name as the Bay Area's newest all-time hero. San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds was in the stands. Warriors star Draymond Green watched from the sidelines; Stephen Curry was present for Game 1. And it means something to Williams to win it in the town that helped raise her.SubscribeThere’s more to San Francisco with the Chronicle. Subscribe today for just 25¢.This article originally published at Gabby Williams writes herself into Bay Area sports history powering Valkyries' Game 7 win.