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The Golden State Valkyries emerged Monday night with a triumphant 74-57 win over the Connecticut Sun in Ballhalla, retribution for a massive loss to Connecticut they suffered weeks prior.
Alongside the win was an exciting reveal of the Valkyries’ new mascot: Violet the Raven, who emerged after days of buildup. The win improved the Valkyries to a 16-15 record and further cemented their position in the playoff hunt, but the game wasn’t without troublesome moments either.
As the final seconds of the game dwindled down, Valkyries guard Kate Martin lost the ball after a pass and dived toward it trying to recover. As a result, she dived straight under the legs of Sun guard Leïla Lacan, knocking both players to the ground. Lacan fell straight on top of Martin’s back and Martin was slow to get up, stuck on the court in pain with her head in her hands.
She was helped up by her teammates and left the court on her own two feet but the collision may have taken a toll.
It was announced on Tuesday that Martin will be questionable to appear in the Valkyries’ Wednesday game against the Washington Mystics, originally reported by Marisa Ingemi of the San Francisco Chronicle. She has been added to the injury report with a back issue, which is seemingly a result of that play.
Before the collision with Lacan, Martin had played 16 minutes off the bench and scored three points with four rebounds and one assist. She left the game with 26 seconds remaining, and obviously did not return.
The news of Martin’s back injury comes at a critical juncture in the season for Golden State. A second-year guard, Martin recently went on record speaking about overcoming an ACL injury in college.
“When you get injured and can’t play basketball, that was like the love of my life getting taken away from me. I just sat on the sidelines and did a lot of observing,” she told the San Francisco Standard. “I had great leaders ahead of me at Iowa that showed me how to put the team first and really put your own accolades and pride aside to cheer for others.”
Martin’s absence would be a blow to a Valkyries squad that has just started to come out the other side of a series of other injuries. For Martin, any time missed would put a halt to her efforts to get consistent playing time. Before her 16 minute showing against the Sun, she had only played nine minutes combined across the Valkyries’ previous two games.
