🎙️ Episode 7: “Big Vet Energy from a Small Town Gal: Kayla Thornton’s Hustle, Humor & Hold-It-Down Game”

In episode 7, we’re showing love to one of the Valkyries’ real-deal anchors: Kayla Thornton. She’s an incredible defender, experienced vet, and the kind of player every team needs and wants. 

From going undrafted to grinding her way through Washington, Dallas and New York, Kayla’s journey shows grind and glory, and now she’s holding it down in black and violet with jersey #5.

Come hang as we break down why KT's the lowkey MVP of the Valks. We HEART Kayla Thornton. Let’s gooo! 🏀🔥🖤💜

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Valkyries. Valkyries.

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This is Raina. And Vanessa. And this is Valkyries Say Less. And by that you know we really mean. We're going to say so much more. Welcome. We are two moms, ex-hoopers, living in San Francisco. Yes. And current teachers and entrepreneurs. And artists. And artists. Artists. We are podcast artists now. Today we are going to be talking about Kayla Thornton, but before we do that, let's do a little bit of highlights of our week. Woo! I love weekly highlights. Good news. We made it into Ricky's. And Ricky's blew my mind. Yeah. I mean, the suspense was killing me. We went the first opening night. We got to Ricky's. And we got there, had VIP parking, and then we got there and we realized they had already sent people away because they were closing in a half hour. Good for Ricky's. I know. Good problems to have. Bravo, Sarah and Danielle. Similar problems this time. Similar good problems. They had so many fans show up that they had Overflow go over to High Tops. Woo! Thank you, High Tops, for supporting. And then also we found our friends two places over at$4.95. Yep. So it was just hopping in the Castro. Everyone was really showing up and... Well, okay, so we also planned for this. So I was like, we're getting there at$3.45 for a$5.30 game. There's no way that we're rolling up at$5 thinking we're getting in. Yeah. The first night they opened, the line was around the block. So we learned our lesson from our first experience and We got there at 345. You got there at 345. Right after acupuncture. Yes. In the neighborhood. Fully aligned and ready to go to be a good fan. I was so rested and rejuved. So we got there. And what was your take? I mean, I don't think I've ever been as enamored in a sports bar. The level of love and kindness and high energy joy unmatched. Yeah. So there were two bartenders, Jack and Valerie. And every single time Valerie was like introducing herself, shaking the person's hand after they got a drink. And it was just such genuine like interest and building of community. And like right after I ordered a cocktail, the person next to me turned, started chatting. She turned the other way, started chatting, introduced all of us. And I was like, oh, like this is amazing. It's like we're part of a sorority. Yeah. With less drinking. There was many options. So they had like normal cocktails. which were very creative there's one with peanut butter I don't know about that one but they had low alcohol cocktails and then also non-alcoholic beers and a lot of gluten free options in the lager there was a rice lager and then on the menu they also had gluten free options for the buns and then it was just cool because I felt like at first it was just trying to soak in what we were experiencing what we were seeing and there were so many people. It wasn't at all packed yet, but it was already very full. And then it just got like until it was at max capacity. And then there was a line and then they were turning people away. But we were inside. Well, they were turning people to next door. And some fans were just diehard and wanted to watch the game through the window, which I thought was really amazing that they were in their Valks gear, wanted to be part of the Ricky's experience. So they just hung out in line like till the end of the game. I know. Really amazing. Wait, okay. And who did you... Who did we randomly, like, wind up next to? That is quite interesting. Really interesting. So while Vanessa was doing the rounds and being more social than me, you're the social butterfly in this duo. Handing out mini flyers. I was getting to know the old friend of Coach Nakase's dad, Gary. Gary Nakase. And... This lovely older gentleman, Rod Suzuki, if you're out there. Hey, Rod. I hope you're listening. He kept me company the whole game. And I just was like really moved as someone that lost their dad young and knowing that Coach Nakase also lost her dad, I think in 2022. I was really moved to say, like, I loved when my dad's BFFs from basketball showed up at my games. Like, it meant so much to me. It was like my dad was there. And the fact that Rod, by himself, ready to watch and root for his old buddy's daughter, was just, like, so, so really awesome. It was, like, very cosmic. Like, why don't you just ask her for tickets to the game? Like, it meant so much to me when my dad's friends came to my game. Why don't we try to find, like, I'll try to connect you. So my effort was like, this is Instagram. Yes. He didn't have it. He doesn't have Instagram. But I opened Coach Nakase's profile and I said, like, if you get Instagram, like, you just look up Natalie Nakase and then you press message and then you can message her. I hope they can connect. She will get you tickets. Yeah. That would be amazing. Yeah, that'd be really great. You know, I was like two seconds from like downloading Instagram. Instagram on his phone. Oh, but I didn't. Yeah, we just hung out. He told me his take on the team by the fourth quarter. He was like, they need to run a more emotion offense. And we were talking about picks and rolls and rebounds. And it was just so great. It was like I had like adopted dad for. And he was one of maybe three men. In the bar. In the entire packed bar. Yeah. Mainly women. We had friends who showed up, which was awesome. Yes. And then they like knew various people in there. So in some ways we were like connected to, you know, other folks than when we walked in. One of my highlights was a few different people said that they had already listened to our podcast. As Meg would say, small town, big city. We did phone a fan live. That was my one time I came out of the corner and was like, hey, you are the one person with Kayla Thornton. Totally. Jersey on like why did you choose Kayla Thornton so shout out to Rachel who did a little interview with me they were saying that they love Kayla Thornton's fierce go get it attitude just like super hustle and said that Kayla Thornton's parents her family is in town and that they were sitting in the same section apparently there's a family section so a little inside scoop from Rachel fan Rachel rocking the KT jersey thank you for the interview and the inside scoop can I add a little bit to that because you interviewed someone and then I also had set up an Instagram and Facebook post to ask our our fans about reasons why they love Kayla Thornton. And so we have some answers. And so this is fun because I'm like, this is just a way, this podcast for us to engage and interact with other Valkyries lovers. And so here we go. So we've got people saying she's got potential, always smiling, so grounded. You can always count on her for a high energy and effort game. Offense and defense, even if her shot isn't falling, but lucky for us, it has been a lot lately. So many exclamation points. And then finally, she's a dog. Every game is fire. Love that. Thank you to our Instagram responders. You know we love engagement. Yes. I would say they're BALX fans, not our fans. But we'll go with it. Okay, so we're going to deep dive into Kayla Thornton. What stands out to you? Like just if we're going to go a quick little bio before we play our game, like what is what like jumps out to you? So, You took mine. Yeah, so funny. I took it. Okay, say more then. I'll stop. You say more about her.

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Like

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she's asked, Chicago or New York pizza? And she was like, Texas. Papa John's. Papa John's. Papa John's. It was so great. She's like, I don't want fancy pizza that, like, falls off. Like, it needs to stick together. So, yeah, definitely worth looking up videos of Kayla Thornton. She's very funny. And the comment on the Instagram is interesting because I actually think she's not smiling all the time. Sometimes when it's, like, serious game time, like, she– her leadership is very– Oh yeah. She has a very strong face too where she's like, you know she's taking it seriously. She also sticks out her tongue and does hilarious like eyes rolling up, tongue out. I'm like, oh my goddess. So that's just our brief intro. Yeah. Humor. Leadership, vet status. We'll get more into it when we get into our game. I didn't realize this was going to become a thing when we started this podcast, but now it is. And I wake up at four in the morning and I'm like, what? It's like lesson planning at the beginning of the school year. Do you do that where you get that? Like, it's like a waking dream of like, what can I do better in my class? Of course, the surge.

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Yeah.

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that's happening with this podcast is I wake up and I'm like, what game can we do for the podcast to make it learning fun? I'm really glad that you are having these moments. Thank you. You're welcome. This is my next masterpiece. Okay. So, this is a classic out of the Reina Mast classroom playbook. It's called Taboo. Taboo! Yeah. I didn't invent it, actually. I'm just coordinating. But we played in Spanish class where you are practicing vocab and you're a Great. Okay. Great. Normally you'd like pick out of a hat, but we're just going to go through and just like do a scroll, like you're rolling the dice on the scroll. And you like play with your entire class and we're doing it one-on-one. So also we're doing the best we can here, but the point is learn about Kayla, learn about basketball. Yes. Okay. So all the terms have to do with Kayla Thornton's background or her game or her personality. Okay. And there are two words or three words that you're not allowed to say. Got it. You got it? You go first. I'm closing my eyes. You can't see me because we aren't video recording these yet. This is tricky. I might fail. I might not. We don't know. So this is a good thing in basketball when somebody has this. You're looking at the box score and you're thinking about like the skills that you're good at and you're doing so many good skills on both sides of the court. Both. That you are... Getting evidence of your skills in the box score. I just want you to talk more. I already know what it is. Stop it. Come on. Say less. Double, double. I'm trying. It's taboo is saying less. Double, double. I can't say these words. Double, double. Yeah. You got it. Good, good, good. Okay. That was a hard one. I wasn't allowed to say rebound points. Anyway. So double, double. This is very Kayla Thornton. Oh, my God. She is like the leader. She's the queen of the double doubles. Going back to college. Yeah. So she went to college at University of Texas at El Paso, and she averaged a double-double in college. Oh, my God. Who does that? Who does that? Kayla. KT. Yeah. That's amazing. It's awesome. 19.5 points per game and then 10.1 rebounds per game. So that is a double-double for life. And she's on her third double-double game in a row. Oh, my God. She's amazing. Okay. Okay. Next one. Okay, I'm ready. I love this game, by the way. Is this my favorite game so far? It might be. Okay, this is when you are on offense and you're going to try to make a wall with your body. So that you're blocking the person that's playing defense. Screen. Screen. How'd you know? It wasn't pick. You said wall. Wall. Okay. Wall. I was like, that's a screen. I wasn't allowed to. Oh, I might have said set. you're not allowed to say pick or set screen. So what is a screen? What is a screen? So a screen when you're on offense and your teammate has the ball, then you set a screen. So that way you're blocking the defensive player and your offensive teammate can go around you. So you're creating a barrier and then they have the option of rolling around, dribbling down, shooting or passing. You're basically just setting up a barrier so that you give them a little bit more time and space to make their next move. You can also use them to Right. Okay. So, yeah, this is on the list because Thornton uses screens really well. Yes. Wasn't there one awesome one we were talking about regarding Janelle? Yeah, that was in the Aces game. We saw that. That's in the highlight film where she comes around and then Janelle's setting the wall. She's setting the screen. She's setting the pick. And then she came around and she hit this 27-footer. It was really great. Nailed it. Nailed it. Let me do one. Okay. Ready? All right, I'm ready. I'm clearing my mind. This is taboo number three. She is somebody who has played in the WNBA for much longer than all of our rookies. And so she, yeah, no, no. We're talking about Kayla. And so this is the opposite of a rookie because she brings her wealth of knowledge to the game from her different teams. And so if she's not a rookie, she is an experienced veteran. Exactly. Veteran. All right. I actually did clear my mind so much that I forgot what we were playing this game. We're not talking about that. Okay, so she's a veteran. So tell us, Renette, how many seasons has she been in the WNBA? I think she has nine. This is her 10th. Yep. Correct? Yep. Correct. This is her 10th season in the WNBA. She had a rough start, though. She didn't get drafted. Yeah, she wasn't signed. And then when she actually got, she played 10 games for the Mystics and then got waived, right? Yep. Am I making that up? No, that's right. And then who else has she played for? All right, there are four. Four teams that she's played for. I'm not going to look at the notes. It's Mystics first. Yep. And then? The Wings. Yes. Very good. And then Liberty. I'm not even feeding this to you. Liberty, you're telling me with your eyebrows. Liberty and then Valkyrie. And then the Valkyries. Anyways, okay, let's go to the next one because we could say more. But we're going back to Taboo. Well, while you're looking, I just love the friendship that she has with... Katie? Yeah. Kennedy Burke. She's so funny. They're hilarious. They're so funny. Going back to the hilarious. They're so funny and like... Really, I imagine they just really miss each other. And OK, she notable, notable at the Liberty because last year. More than notable. Famous. Famous. Famous. They won the championships. Yeah. And it was on her 32nd birthday. Right. Last year. So she won the championship on her birthday. On her birthday. And she played like amazingly. First thing she said was God is good. And she was just so grateful for the opportunity. She ended last season by playing in the championship game. And she started this season on the brand new expansion team and was the first to score. So it's like you could think she ended scoring. She started scoring like beautiful connection. Beautiful transition. I have to say I was a little jealous. When she went home to New York, she really loved her time and loved her teammates. The hugs are in slow motion. They last forever. I'm like, you guys are such a family. So recently the Valks went back and they were doing the ring ceremony for the championship rings from last year. It was great that they did it with Kayla. Once a liberty, always a liberty. And we're like, excuse us? Yeah, that's where I got a little like, wait, no. No, I was a little, I agree. You texted me and you were like, what does this mean? When it was happening. Are they trying to take her back? Lift her up. Lift her up. They're just lifting her up. It was just really, she was kind of wiping her face in her jersey, maybe crying after hugs and just really has a connection with those. I mean, it was a loss. I think it was a, it wasn't a total shock. They knew that she, that there was a possibility, a high possibility that she was going to be chosen. She wasn't a 35. She was not protected. And she's amazing. And it was Kennedy Burke, who we mentioned before, who was wondering if she was going to try and punk her, like shock her, scare her when she was coming out of the tunnel. But then it was like, this is already kind of like an intense reunion because they hadn't seen her since the parade after winning. And so it had been several months. And so then she just went with a popping out from behind the backboard. And then they all like came up to hug her yeah it was like those good like I don't care if my armpit stinks I'm gonna hug you all the way and like for a long time I hope you're holding it was just like so the coach came out after the game Kennedy Burke said I really couldn't keep my smile I couldn't be serious she was looking at me I was looking at her and I was like Thornton we're in the middle of a game be serious that would be us on the court I feel like she she makes you want to like be goofy mm-hmm I love it. I'm like, wait, I want to be goofy with Kayla Thornton. Okay. But we're going back to taboo. So when someone in Balhalla scores from behind the giant ark and What is that sometimes referred to if we're thinking– A three-pointer. Yes. And then there's a specific image that shows up that looks like something a lawyer goddess is wielding. And it's a dagger. A dagger, yeah. Exactly. Okay. So meaning of dagger. In basketball lingo, it's when a shot is made in a pivotal part of the game. Dare I say a shot that silences a rowdy crowd. Like a dagger. Or dagger to the heart or puts the team ahead in a closing moments of a game. Yeah, I think the Valks are using it more as like any three pointer. They just have that button ready. We made a three pointer. That's a dagger. That's another dagger. It's always like a pivotal moment. Connecting dagger to KT. One, she often has the ball when the shot clock's running out. And so like, it's not fair to her stats that she like launches it. And it's like, sometimes it's an air ball. It's just like this desperate, like you got to get the ball. Because the shot clock's running out. But sometimes she's just like not a common forward and she like pulls up and hits a three. And like it's like a splash. It's so, so awesome. There was one where she had a dagger that was like the true sense of a dagger where it was like sealing the game. It was against the overtime game. Against the LA Sparks. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Did you see that? Yeah. No. No. Wait, that's the game I didn't see. That's the game you were at the retirement party. That's the game when I was at the retirement party. The one game. Yeah. Well, you got to watch it in the highlights. It's great. That was a true dagger in all the sense. It was not only a Valkyrie 3, but it was like with 37.9 seconds. I don't know. I saw the highlights. But it really sealed the game and it was amazing. Okay. You are next. Okay. Meanwhile. We have more folks that wrote about why they love KT. Okay. Okay, so now this is on the Golden State Valkyries fan group Facebook page, which is so fun. That we are following. So there's all these organized little groups that are like, we're all like a little biology. What do you call that? Yeah, a biome. A little biome of fandom. We're in a Valks biome. A Valks fandom biome. Okay, but here people actually have their first names. So the other one from Instagram, it was their Instagram handles, which sometimes are incomprehensible. But here we have Martha Dunham say, she is amazing, respected by all, and a joyful, kind person. David Liu, a star player. Emma Duque, fearless. And she does a good Skylar impersonation. Rita Domingo, she lives up to the name Valkyrie, a warrior, a true competitor to the sport. Julie Kriegler, her never-quit stick-to-it-ness as a great player and teammate who is exciting to watch and cheer for. Purple heart. Rosanne Jackson, she is clutch and she is a great leader. Keith Poorman, her basketball IQ. Mary DeGrazia, because she's a badass. Stephanie Norman-Bontemps, fierce. And finally, Corey Howard Hart. All these people are responding on both social media handles. Exactly. We are getting... It's so great. We're getting evidence of the fandom. Okay, so... All right, back to Taboo. All right, Taboo. Okay, this is a person that has a superpower. Coach Nakase has formed her team around this superpower in many ways. When she looked for players to put on her roster, she was looking for this type of player. It's not a position. It's not an official position. Okay. A leader? A role model? Well, yeah. A warrior. But that's not the answer. A goddess. It's a specific role model. that you play on the team. And it's not on... But it's not. It's not on offense. It gives it away. Come on. Defense? Defensive, yes. Specialist. Yes. Okay, so we talked about this. A defensive specialist, KT. KT. We talked about that with Burton as well. She was also recruited. Is that the word? She was also drafted because of her defense skills. So, yeah, I mean, what the fans are getting out with KT is that she brings not only her offensive, like, really strong screens and scoring, but she's also on the other end of the floor just, like... Strong rebound going after it. Coach Nakase. Blocking. Yeah. As a forward, she's doing a great job at manning the– at womaning the– Womaning, a verb. I like it. Yeah. I know. I was like, manning came out of my mouth, and I was like, this is weird. It's– well, in the interview last time they won where they were saying, we are a team of six women. Yeah. And I wonder how that fell– Or how that was received by the fans that don't know what a six man is. Oh, yeah, yeah. So it's like sort of lost in translation. So a six man, if you don't know, is you are the first player off the bench. You don't start the game. You are not as good as the first five. Well, you're not a starter. You're not a starter. But you're the first one called in. The first one called in. And so this whole team is basically all people that come off the bench to do something special. And KT... is one of these people that is really known for her defense, also known for her offense with the... Her double doubles her with points. Our GM, Nianin, was also at the Liberty. She was the assistant GM at Liberty with KT. And so Nianin is our GM for the Valkyries now. And so... I want to see more of her. Yeah, I know. She's kind of like running the scene, behind the scenes. She's running the behind the scenes. We need to... I think we need to do a profile on her. Not saying when, but she's going to come up too. Yeah, so her quote was, when coach Natalie explained to me the type of athlete she was looking for both on and off the court, KT is who came to mind right away. She's a defensive specialist. She has grown her game to be able to shoot the three. She's a ball of energy, a vet. She knows how to bring people together. I'm really excited. Sounds like she's the glue. Another glue. Yes. More glue. I read that somewhere that somebody else also used the word glue and I was like, wow. But that's Kate Martin. I know. Wow. I know. So connections. Glue 2.0. The way that you just described her is like so about her and also there's crossovers between her and the other players. Well, that's like the type of player that Nakase was looking for. Okay. Do we have any more? I think that's enough. We had Dagger, defensive specialist, veteran, double-double, screen. What else did we miss about her that folks might want to know? Well, let's look at her bio because that didn't come up in Basketball Vocab. Part of why we're doing this show is because we are amazified that these players have gotten one of these, you know, coveted spots on this new team. And there's only 13 teams in the WNBA. Currently. Currently. Two more next year. Two more coming. But what we're excited about is like, how'd they get here? And we just want to, you know, love on them a little bit and teach our kids about them. So Kayla Sorton. Quick facts. Quick facts. She's from Texas, from El Paso, loves it. She's like an El Paso girl. She is so proud of El Paso, which I think is also like awesome. So shout out to the El Paso peeps who are listening. Yeah, she quotes, I'll never stop repping El Paso. Yeah. Also UTC. EP, University of Texas, El Paso. They retired her jersey. No way. Yeah. So did her high school. Yeah. Irvin High School in El Paso. She reps the 9-1-5. Nice. Yeah. Oh, happy Juneteenth. Happy Juneteenth. It's so great we're doing a Texas girl on Juneteenth. Oh, awesome. Yeah. Beautiful. And we're going to the game later. It's going to be great to see our Valkyries fight. It's going to be amazing. What's her family situation? So she is, she just mentioned this in the press conference. She's the daughter of former U.S. military officer. She was born in Germany because he was posted in Germany. And then she's the daughter of a preacher, too. Her mom is a preacher. And they pray before every game. They're really, really, you know, both very best friends. besties and... Her dad is also a deacon. Oh, her dad is too. Yeah, her dad... post-military was also a deacon they're both retired both Mertine and Lewis Thornton her parents are now retired and

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hanging out in SF now for the month apparently

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she flies them to her games as much as possible and then she has two brothers

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one

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also in the military and then one has a private family and yeah she's just been a super athlete since she was young high school she was also a multi-sport athlete doing track yeah she's really good at track I think a jumper and hurdler am i right maybe a hundred meter in there yep yep yep and long jump and triple jump okay yeah no high jump kt and irvin high school just retired her jersey too oh yeah yeah she's famous which is awesome in el paso i know we just said this earlier but el paso retired her jersey it's the first female jersey to be retired nice so there were a Maybe seven other guys whose jerseys had been retired there, but first female. So emotional for how much she has accomplished. See, the world's looking up. The world is definitely looking up. I mean, last weekend we were at the No Kings March, and then we went to the Valks game. And it's a beautiful... Yeah, it's a beautiful example of how much good there is going on and how we have to lean into that and help it grow. Yeah, what was the vibe at the game? I was home. I was completely spent. I was on the couch watching the game with bubble popcorn. How was the game after the march? Amazing. San Francisco was just so alive that day. I know. I mean, I read two different things. I read 50,000 people came out, and then I also saw 100,000 people come out. So somewhere between them was the number of people that came out to the march. And then 18,000 folks came out for the game. Yeah. It was a great game. Yeah. It was like exceptional. I mean, I saw people in Valks gear at the march. It was great. Yeah. I know. My favorite. We are Valkyries. We are fighting the good fight. At Civic Center, there was someone holding up a poster that said, f*** Trump, go Valks. Great. Perfect. And I was like, oh, did I make this poster? Yes. The community is coming together. Yeah. In terms of positivity and joy and love. Mm-hmm. Like, this is why... I mean, making this podcast as well as attending the games, it's like just it's us leading into to inclusion and love. Mm hmm. Yeah. And just in a selfish way, like I need to laugh. Yeah. It's just so hard lately. So let's see what else. So track and field in high school. Yeah. Double-double in college and... And then professionally. Professionally. So she was undrafted. Then she played 10 games for Mystics, then waived. And then this is what I don't understand about the timeline. The Wikipedia. KT fans, we need to update the Wikipedia.

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Yeah.

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I don't understand how one plays in Australia, Egypt, Israel, Italy, Puerto Rico, Russia and South Korea and then makes it back to the NBA. Because it's offseason. That's so much playing. I know, but that's what they're doing. And I can't find stats for all those things. It's just a hustle. It's a constant hustle. You did find that KTMO Billings played in Russia. I know. So I was like, oh, that's so interesting. And there was kind of some drama about that because there are a lot of people who were questioning whether it was safe. to go do it in light of Reiner. KT's response was that her and her family prayed about it. And ultimately they went with their heart, their gut, and were like, it's going to be okay. And so they went and played in Russia because Russia is the highest paying. They played for Dynamo Kursk. So yeah, you make a lot more money in Russia. That's in the offseason. And then there's always the chance, though, that you can get hurt and then it screws up your WNBA contract. So it's definitely risky. Our women are just they're doing so much to make ends meet, which, you know, I don't know. I'm like, can we just pay them more? But it seems like so many of them are having to do that out of necessity. Well, applauding Katie for that. That globetrotting. Yeah. And so, yeah, she's a veteran. She's been playing all around the world and then came back to the Wings in 2017. Yep. She played how many years there? Like six or something? Well, Liberty 2023. Yeah, six. She came back to the Dallas Wings in 2017, six seasons. And there was a trade. There was like an important three-team trade that occurred. Right. to get her from the Dallas Wings to the Liberty. Yeah, those are always... It was a high profile. Hopscotch for me of like, okay, can you imagine that? Like you get traded to one team and then you get traded to another or like you're aware of all these cards kind of getting shuffled. Yeah. And so she was traded to New York Liberty as the headline three-team deal. And yeah, she did well in Liberty, right? She was like... The classic six man. She did well. And also, I think she did really well during the championship. Right. She stepped up. Yeah. And so she's just like on the up and up. Yeah. But at Liberty, she only averaged like five points. Right. Right. And now she has three double doubles in a row. So she's clicking in. Yeah. Stepping up as the leader, the veteran. Yeah. I... I feel like you read the quotes of Kayla Thornton going back to Liberty that day to get her ring. A little bit of sadness. There's loss there that she's moved on from this championship team to come to the Valks. But she was kind of wooed by the Valks, right? Yeah, I think she recognizes also just like this is a huge opportunity for her to go from being maybe the sixth person to being front and center, starter. Like this is major. Mage. Yeah, she came out and... saw the facilities and she was impressed and now she's just been stepping up totally impressed yeah a practice facility yeah which is very I think other cities are trying I think do all the cities have practice facilities now or are they still being built because otherwise like the WNBA like historically is like played in like wherever they could find court time yeah I mean we were just talking about this with the Sparks fan about how the Sparks they even like block off the top row they don't they aren't selling out like like the Valkyries are and so they have a 13,000 seat capacity because usually when the Lakers play it's 19,000 because they have the top seats available and they aren't available okay but what I think is awesome is that the Warriors head coach told the Valkyries we are investing in you and we are going to make you like you're going to have as good of facilities as the Warriors do. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for getting PT on board. Yes. Investing in women's sports is so important. It's a good investment. Well, it's a good investment because they're also making millions right now. No, a financial yield, but also like a community yield. Yes. Like I'm just so happy. The matriarchy. The matriarchy rises. We make money and we build community at the same time. That's what this is all about. All right. What else do we love about Kayla Thornton? I love her relationship with her mom. It reminds me of my mom. Like my mom would like drive through sleet and ice and rain to make it to my college games. And it was like before the age of cell phone, it was like my mom going to make it here in her van, just driving up. And so it's like they talk so much and they pray before every game and her parents are just showing up for every chance they get. She loves how her mom mispronounces the names of players. Like, this is just her regular thing. Well, she was just saying that she was saying Vanderbilt instead of Vandersloot. Oh, just fill in the word. You know what I mean. Also made me think of my mom. Yeah, so she's, like, really close to her parents and is just really respected by everyone that knows her. Like, there's so many quotes we found that she's just a fabulous leader. And then KT, like, when she speaks, she was on the mic the last home game. At the end, they put the headphones on her. Totally, player of the game. Yeah, and she thanked all the fans and was like, yeah, it was just really great. Can we love these players more? I don't know. Every time. It's really ridiculous. Every time we do a backstory, I'm like, is this my new favorite player? I haven't purchased a jersey yet because of this. I don't know what you call it. But it's like we just keep getting to know more and more people and more and more stuff that we love. And then we watch them with like a new eye during the game. Yeah. So our next episode will be on Moe Billings. Moe Billings! So watching Moe Billings tonight against Caitlin Clark. Totally. And against the fever. And it's going to be a great... great head-to-head competition. Thank you for taking me. You're welcome. I really appreciate it. From the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate it. These are hot seats. They are hot seats. Your seats are 113, so normally 35 or so. It's going to be a very jam-packed game, very high demand for these tickets. Awesome. I really appreciate you taking me as your date. You're welcome. It's my pleasure. Next time we're recording, we are going to be doing this from afar. You'll be in France and I will be in Michigan. So stay tuned for our next episode. And thank you to all of the listeners. You know, thank you for sharing and rating and reviewing it. We've got about 20, 25 star reviews on Apple, 10 on Spotify. So keep them coming in because this is fueling. This is fueling our fire. Yeah. Oh, we didn't do our cheer. I had one. Okay. Yes. Every rose has its Thornton. Okay. Oh my goodness. Every rose has its Thornton.

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Just like every night has its dawn. Just like every cowgirl sings a sad, sad song.

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Every rose has its Thornton. Yeah. Alrighty. Well, that's a wrap. That's a wrap. We're all warmed up singing. Ready? Yeah. Valkyries. See you next time. This is Vanessa. And this is Raina. Thank you for listening to Valkyries Say Less.