Photo credit: NBA Photos
By Shawn McCullough
The Aces staved off elimination with an 84-75 win over the Connecticut Sun at the IMG Bubble in Bradenton, FL.
“I thought that we played a very solid basketball game and on to game five,” said head coach Bill Laimbeer. “They had their opportunity to win, now it’s our opportunity to win.”
Down by one at halftime, Las Vegas went on a 16-7 run in the third quarter to pull away comfortably in the second half.
The Aces were led by veteran forward Angel McCoughtry who scored a game high 29 points.
“Angel wasn’t ready to go home. She really took it over,” said Laimbeer. “She’s got a calmness about here that is good for our team.”
“It was a big game, but we found the fun in it and just enjoyed the moment,” said McCoughtry.
Forward A’ja Wilson registered another double-double, scoring 18 points and pulling down 13 rebounds, while guard Danielle Robinson also added 18.
“It was win or go home,” said Wilson. “But the job is not finished. It is nowhere near done.”
The Aces were without the WNBA’s 6th Woman of the Year, Dearica Hamby, who missed the game with a right knee injury.
“It was tough when we lost Dearica, but man down, man up,” said Wilson.
The Aces and the Sun will play game five on Tuesday to advance to the WNBA Finals.
Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com
Game Notes:
- The Aces turned the ball over just seven times in the game.
- Las Vegas shot 47.9% from the field.
- The Aces got only four points off the bench.
Game Starters:
F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 35 Angel McCoughtry
C – 4 Carolyn Swords
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 3 Danielle Robinson
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