SAN FRANCISCO >> It wasn’t pretty, but the Valkyries got it done.

Despite shooting 31.9% from the field and 18.9% from the 3-point line, Golden State hit every big shot down the stretch to beat the Washington Mystics 76-74 and notch its first win in franchise history.

“Our shots weren’t hitting, but we just stuck with it. I’m just so proud of our team because we could have just folded,” forward Kayla Thornton said. “And there could have been excuses because we were a young team, we don’t know the system. But we just pushed through, and everybody contributed to this win tonight.”

Fourth-year guard Veronica Burton had the best game of her career as she scored a career-high 22 points to go along with nine rebounds, five assists and two steals.

“I was grateful to see the ball go through the net,” Burton said.

Here are five takeaways from Wednesday’s win:

Defense leads the way >> Golden State won Wednesday’s game on the defensive end.The Valkyries missed their first 17 3-point attempts and couldn’t find any consistency at the rim, but kept the game within striking distance throughout the second half.

Golden State forced 17 turnovers, which resulted in 17 points.

While Washington guard Brittney Sykes had a game-high 30 points, the Valkyries didn’t allow any other player to score more than 10.

Tiffany Hayes update >> Starting shooting guard Tiffany Hayes was knocked out of Wednesday’s game after she suffered a nose injury late in the second quarter.

She took a hard fall when she collided with Washington forward Shakira Austin in the post. Hayes was down on the floor for a few minutes, but was eventually helped back to the locker room. With an ice pack and towel over her face, she gave a thumbs-up to the crowd as she walked through the home tunnel.

“She’s doing good, I think we’re just gonna wait to see you know how she feels,” Valkyries coach Nakase said. “But I walked to the locker room, and she was the first one to open her arms and give me a big hug.”

French forward shines in debut >> Janelle Salaün arrived in the Bay Area for the first time last Friday and made her WNBA debut as the Valkyries’ starting small forward against the Mystics.

She didn’t disappoint.

Salaün scored 10 points, grabbed four rebounds and put pressure on the rim all game to open up shots for herself and her teammates.

Valkyries own the offensive glass >> The Valkyries are carving out their identity as a scrappy rebounding team.

While they lost the overall rebounding battle, Golden State had four more offensive rebounds than the Mystics. Burton had a game-high four offensive boards in the win.

Golden State’s biggest play of the game came when center Temi Fagbenle grabbed an offensive rebound and found Burton for a dagger 3-pointer that pushed the Valkyries’ lead to seven with under a minute remaining in the game.

“We’re just trying to intentionally crash. Not just crash to crash, but we’re trying to get more possessions,” Nakase said of her team’s 11 offensive rebounds. “So Veronica, she grabbed four, so that’s four extra possessions. So that’s huge, considering she’s not one of the tallest people on the floor.”

Another sellout crowd >> For the second straight game, the Valkyries had a sellout crowd of 18,064.

The energy at Chase Center was evident for all four quarters. “Let’s go Valkyries” chants rang throughout the crowd as Golden State inched closer to a win.