Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

The Seattle Storm put a damper on the Aces star-studded inaugural home opener in Las Vegas with a 105-98 win at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

A’ja Wilson scored a career-high 27 points, going 9-17 from the field, along with eight rebounds.

“I really just took what the defense gave me and it just started to work.” said Wilson.  “My teammates really kept feeding me the ball and making me make plays.”

Nia Coffey also scored a career-high 23 points.

“Bill (Laimbeer) is clear and direct with what he saw in me and what he needed me to do,” said Coffey.  “During our offense, I make sure that I’m doing what I need to do.  I take advantage of the moment and take advantage of the match up to really show what I can do for this team.”

The Aces were able to claw back into the game after being down by 19 points early in the third quarter, but they were unable to overcome 18 turnovers.

“Turnovers have been a bugaboo so far this season,” said head coach Bill Laimbeer.  “There were 18 tonight, that’s too many especially in a tight game. We are going to have our growing pains with some young players, but we have to get those (turnovers) down.”

The first regular season game in Las Vegas for the Aces featured a list of celebrity appearances, including Boyz II Men singing the national anthem, Jabbawockeez performing a halftime show, the cast of Michael Jackson ONE greeting fans entering the arena and Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis attending the game.

With the loss, the Aces (formerly the San Antonio Stars) dropped to 0-3 on the season.  The Stars started the 2017 season 0-13 before winning their first game of the season 89-82 over Chicago at home on June 30th.

The Aces will next play the Storm in Seattle on Thursday, May 31st before heading back home to face the Washington Mystics on Friday, June 1st at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

• 7,662 fans attended the Aces first regular season game in Las Vegas
• The Aces introduced their new mascot named Bucket$, a fuzzy bunny rabbit

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 12 Nia Coffey
C – 8 Carolyn Swords
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 15 Lindsay Allen