Hammon rips Aces after being crushed by expansion Valkyries

Loyd could only get a late hand in Martin’s face before the halftime buzzer-beating shot went in and electrified the sold-out Chase Center.

While Martin, a former Ace, bumped chests with her new Golden State Valkyries teammates, coach Becky Hammon and her players solemnly exited the court. The Aces were down 21 points to a new expansion team.

There was no halftime speech that could help redeem them, no late comeback bid. The Aces lost 95-68 to the Valkyries after trailing from tipoff to the final buzzer Saturday in San Francisco.

“It was a good, old-fashioned ass-whooping. There’s no other way to put it,” Hammon said. “They outplayed us in every aspect of the game. Just really one of the worst games I’ve seen from us.”

Reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson had 17 points for the Aces (4-3), and Chelsea Gray scored 16.

Wilson, who was consistently double-teamed and trapped, said she and Gray agree that the Aces have some work to do.

“We’ve just got to do a better job as a team of understanding what teams want to take away from us and how we can pick that apart,” Wilson said.

Gray mentioned that improvements won’t just come on the court. The Aces now have two losses by 20 or more points this season, something never before seen in Hammon’s tenure.

“We can’t give up 95 points,” Gray said. “Right now, that’s not an Aces team that we’re used to seeing. And so we’re trying to figure it out — in that locker room, in our meetings and in our time that we have together — how to make everybody great. And, yeah, it’s uncharted territory right now. We haven’t really seen this side and played like this since we’ve all been together under Becky.”

Kayla Thornton led the Valkyries (3-5) with a career-high 22 points to help the team score its most points in franchise history and break a four-game losing streak.

Awful second quarter

The Aces struggled to score, shooting 36 percent from the field (22-for-62) and 24 percent from the 3-point line (6-for-25).

Rookie Aaliyah Nye recorded a season-high 13 points off the bench for her second consecutive game in double figures, while the rest of the Aces’ starters were held to single digits.

“We missed a lot of open shots. That can happen,” Hammon said. “The problem is we let missing shots affect our defensive end. That can’t be. Your defense has to be your defense, and it can’t be predicated on whether the ball is going in or not.”

The Aces’ worst defensive quarter was the second, which saw them outscored 34-15.

The period got off to a bad start. A big block on Wilson from Monique Billings led to a layup for Veronica Burton to cap a 7-0 run for the Valkyries. Even after Hammon called a timeout, the Aces came right back to the court and gave up another turnover.

Before the team could blink, the Valkyries were on another run. Wilson looked ready to take the game into her own hands with a spin move to the basket, but Thornton hit a 3 on the other end to give the Valkyries a 41-25 lead with 1:31 remaining until halftime.

‘Really soft mentally’

Hammon described the effort as “really soft mentally.”

“Just letting people come out and punk us, hit us, grab us, and us whining instead of buckling down,” she said. “Effort has to come from your heart. The schemes, the discipline, the habits, that’s your head. And right now, we not only have a heart issue, but it’s (becoming a) head issue.”

Hammon said she has no intention to make her team display what she often calls a “try-hard factor” other than adjusting rotations.

“I’m not going to coach effort. It’s just one thing I can’t deal with,” she said. “You’re in charge of your effort. I guess I’m in charge of your playing time.”

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.