Aces stumble late, lose to Sun, 74-67

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough/Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

The Aces couldn’t hold on late as the Sun beat Las Vegas, 74-67, in Connecticut.

“We are not a halfcourt, slugfest team and that is the second game that we played their [Sun] game,” said head coach Bill Laimbeer.  “The tempo was the biggest problem against Connecticut.”

Las Vegas led by two with 7:33 left, but was outscored 19-11 to finish the game.

“We walked the ball up the floor, we turned it over,” said Laimbeer on the final stretch of the game.   “We could have won this game if we played our game.”

The Aces were led by a dominating performance inside by center Liz Cambage, who scored 28 points and pulled down seven rebounds.

“I’m getting more shots and it normally equals more points,” said Cambage. “Just bang inside and go right against them.”

A’ja Wilson scored 14 points, while Chelsea Gray added 10.

“We have to understand who we are and play that same way every single game,” said Wilson.

The Sun improved to 7-2 and sit in second place in the WNBA standings.

With the loss, the Aces fell to 5-3 on the season heading into their next game on Thursday in New York against the Liberty.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

  • The Aces shot 43.8% from the field.
  • The loss snapped an Aces three game winning streak.
  • Guard Kelsey Plum will return from the U.S. Women’s 3×3 basketball team Olympic qualifiers on Thursday.


Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 3 Riquna Williams
C – 8 Liz Cambage
G – 0 Jackie Young
G – 12 Chelsea Gray

Aces Injury Report:

Angel McCoughtry—Out, right ACL
Kelsey Plum—Out, USA Basketball 3×3

That’s Amaury’s Sports and Commentary podcast: Opponents have studied film on A’s and how to pitch to them

Seattle Mariners’ Jarred Kelenic, center gets a slide in to score a run after Kyle Lewis doubled for an RBI in the fourth inning at T Mobile Park in Seattle against the Oakland A’s on Mon May 31, 2021 (AP News photo)

On That’s Amaury’s podcast:

#1 The Oakland A’s (31-25) suffer another tough loss as they opened a three game series on Monday afternoon Memorial Day at T Mobile Park in Seattle and lost to the Seattle Mariners (28-27) by a run 6-5 in the tenth inning.

#2 The A’s were one of baseball’s hottest teams and had a 13 game win streak going earlier in the season but it seems a lot of their opponents have done a lot of studying and have cut the amount of wins by the A’s including how to pitch to the team who hit only .209 during the four game weekend series against the Los Angeles Angels (24-30).

#3 In spite of the current three game losing streak the A’s still maintain first place by a half game over the Houston Astros (29-24) both the Astros and A’s have lost six of their last ten games.

#4 Amaury, talk about A’s pitching on Monday starter James Kaprielian allowed four earned runs and allowed five hits in the bottom of the third inning which proved to be the bulk of the Mariners scoring.

#5 Oakland A’s pitcher Chris Bassitt (5-2 ERA 3.21) in his last outing threw a complete game shutout and struck out nine hitters will get the start tonight against the Mariners Marco Gonzalez (1-3 ERA 5.40) Gonzalez is coming off the injured list for a strained forearm this is his first start since April 27th.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the Spanish play by play lead announcer for the Oakland A’s on flagship station 1010 KIQI LeGrande San Francisco and does Sports and Commentary at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with Daniel Dullum: Osaka cites depression; Braves Ozuna alledgedly threatens to kill wife; plus more news

Japan’s Naomi Osaka serves the ball to Romania’s Patricia Maria Tig at the French Open during the first round at Roland Garros Stadium on Sun May 30, 2021 (AP News photo)

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4 Fan who reached the court during Game 4 of the Washington-Philadelphia NBA playoff game banned from Capital One Arena; Jazz ban three fans for heckling Ja Morant’s family; Knicks ban fan for spitting on Trae Young

5 Stanley Cup Playoffs: Habs force Game 7 with Maple Leafs; Leafs are packing up their bags and heading for the golf course. Habs defeat Leafs to advance to next round after being down 3-1 in the series.

Daniel Dullum does Headline Sports podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Join Daniel Dullum each Tuesday for Headline Sports podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com