The Los Angeles Sparks guard Lexie Brown (4) celebrates her three point shot in the first half against the Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on Sun Jun 9, 2024 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The Las Vegas Aces (5-4) lost their second game in a row for the first time this season to the Los Angeles Sparks (4-7) 96-92. A’Ja Wilson had another high-scoring game with 31 points and 8 rebounds. Kelsy Plum finished with 24 points. Off the bench, Tiffany Hayes had 17 points and 4 rebounds in the loss..

Game recap: Unlike their Friday night contest in Vegas, the Aces got a dynamite start scoring the first 14 points of the game. Leading 14-0 in the first quarter, they seemed to have it all going on but the Sparks fought back.

In the final four minutes of the quarter, Los Angeles went on a crazy run erasing the Aces lead only trailing 26-21 as the first 12 minutes of the quarter came to an end. Las Vegas was unable to protect their 14 point lead and let Los Angeles back into this game.

The second quarter was a see-saw game with both teams fighting for the lead. The Aces were clinging to the lead and at 6:27 this game was tied. Los Angeles took a two-point lead before the Aces tied it back up at 30.

Las Vegas took a two-point lead only to see the Spark tie it back up 32-32 at 3:42. At 2:21 the game was again tied in this wild game. Every time the Aces threatened to extend their lead, Los Angeles had the answer. Las Vegas was having a tough time with the feisty Sparks.

The Sparks won the second quarter 22-18 and at the half, the Aces were clinging to a 44-43 lead. The great start that Las Vegas had was a distant memory and this was a new game. The Aces would be challenged in the second half of play.

Los Angeles took a quick 50-46 lead in the third quarter and Las Vegas took an instant time out at 7:43. The Sparks had not only taken the lead but continued to extend their lead. At 5:37 in the third, Los Angeles had taken a 59-50 lead prompting another Ace time out. The defending champs were in trouble. At 3:05 another time out was taken by Las Vegas as they continued to trail 67-57.

With 6:32 left in the game, the Aces continued to trail, continued to struggle. At 5:25 Las Vegas had pulled to within one point 78-77. They had finally made a move in the second half. The Aces could not sustain the move they had made and the Spark took a 90-86 lead with 1:42 left in the game.

Las Vegas was in danger of losing their first back to back game of the season. The Aces would pull to within two points but fell short losing their second game in a row. The final score was 96-92 as Las Vegas is now searching for answers having lost their last two matchups.

Game notes: The Aces lost a tough game Friday night against the Seattle Storm 78-65 and were looking to turn things around on Sunday down in Los Angeles as they took on the Sparks. The Sparks won their last game against the Dallas Wings 81-72. To no avail the Aces couldn’t finish losing by four points to the Sparks.

Tuesday night the Aces will take on the Minnesota Lynx who are red-hot right now. Las Vegas will be playing at home and will be looking to right the ship. Every team in the league is gunning for them and some of them have had their way with Las Vegas. The Aces will be looking to put a stop to this as they take on Minnesota. With a 5-4 record right now, another loss will drop them to a five hundred mark.