Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service
By Shawn McCullough
As far as the Las Vegas Aces are concerned, this may be a bad time for the All-Star break.
The Aces beat the Indiana Fever 88-74 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Sunday night and have now won six of their last seven.
Four players scored in double digit including A’ja Wilson, who scored 24 points and Kayla McBride, who added 16.
“It was a good team win,” said Wilson. “For us to just come out and get a win, it’s something special. Our bench production was great today, everyone came and there was no drop off and that’s what you need around this time.”
Center Carolyn Swords came off the bench and contributed with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
“I think that’s always been kind of my mentality and just focusing on one thing at a time, one possession at a time,” said Swords. “Whether it’s a rebound coming my way or knowing that the player that I’m guarding is a good rebounder gives me something to focus on and just try to stay present with that.”
With the team’s recent success, the Aces are aware that it is critical to handle the All-Star break appropriately.
“The All-Star Break is usually a pretty dangerous turning point,” said Swords. “Sometimes people can overlook the game right before or right after. Some teams will come back right after the All-Star Break and really take off. We want to make sure that we keep our momentum, stay focused, take care of ourselves while we have a couple of days and then make sure that we really hit the ground running when we come back.”
A’Ja Wilson and Kayla McBride were voted to the WNBA All-Star game which will be played on Saturday in Minneapolis.
“It feels good, it’s a blessing,” said Wilson about being voted to the All-Star game in her first season.
“I’m excited to be able to represent Vegas,” said McBride. “The fan base has been so amazing, so to be able to go and represent them the first year with A’ja is really special to me.”
With the win, the Aces improved to 12-13 on the season and trail the Connecticut Sun by one game for the 8th spot in the WNBA standings, as the top eight teams in the league make the playoffs.
The Aces will next play the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday, August 1st at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com
Game Starters:
F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
C – 3 Kelsey Bone
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 10 Kelsey Plum
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