Aces beat Indiana 92-74, maintain playoff hopes

Published on by psushawn

20180811 - A'ja Wilson 07

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

The Las Vegas Aces have not quite given up on playoffs just yet.

The Aces came out laser focused and beat the Indiana Fever 92-74 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Saturday night.

“I think we all knew we needed to get a win and we all came out with great energy,” said forward A’ja Wilson. “The crowd helped us of course, but we were definitely laser focused.”

Wilson scored 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds as point guard Kelsey Plum led the team with 20 points.

“I definitely think that our team was locked in,” said Plum. “We knew that this was a must win game and we knew that we needed to come to play, bring our A game and I was really proud with everyone that we did that.”

The win was big for the Aces’ playoff hopes after losing five straight coming out of the All-Star Break.

Despite the push for the playoffs, head coach Bill Laimbeer is preaching the “one game at a time” approach.

“They (the Aces players) are feeling a little bit of pressure because they were in a position to compete for a playoff spot and I just told them that they weren’t expected to have a chance at the playoffs so there’s no pressure,” said Laimbeer. “Just go out and play basketball and take it one game at a time and that’s what they did tonight”.

With the win, the Aces improved to 13-18 on the season and moved to within 1.5 games of the 8th place Dallas Wings for the final playoff spot.

The Aces have three remaining games in the regular season:

8/15 – vs New York
8/17 – at Dallas
8/19 – vs Atlanta

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

  • A’ja Wilson scored in double figures (19) in all 31 games so far this season.
  • The Aces shot 46.2% from the field while holding Indiana to just 36.3%.
  • The Aces dominated the Fever on the boards, pulling down 48 rebounds against just 33 for Indiana.
  • 5,213 Aces fans attended the game at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
  • Retired 50-0 boxer Floyd Mayweather was in attendance.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
C – 8 Carolyn Swords
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

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