Tag: Aces

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

It was a very long 24+ hours for the Las Vegas Aces.

The team was scheduled to depart McCarren International Airport in Las Vegas for Washington, D.C. at 1:13 pm Pacific on Thursday, but the flight was delayed multiple times for a total of close to eight hours and later canceled.

The team connected in Dallas early in the morning and later arrived in Washington, D.C. at 3 pm Eastern, four hours before the scheduled tip-off at Capital One Arena.

The WNBA delayed the start of the game to 8 pm Eastern and later decided to cancel the game.

Since fans had already arrived at the arena for the game, the Mystics organized a free autograph session with the Mystics players, refunded all tickets purchased and offered complimentary tickets to a future Mystics game.

The Aces will next play in Connecticut on Sunday against the Sun.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

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 8^th 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 1^st 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

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

The Aces kept the game close through three quarters, but Las Vegas was outscored 35-15 in the fourth quarter by the Los Angeles Sparks in a 99-78 loss at Delano Las Vegas on Sunday.

“Once things got going well for them (Los Angeles), they just kept going and kept pushing and they’re a good team, they’ve been together for a while,” said rookie A’ja Wilson of the fourth quarter run by the Sparks.

“I got a sense that we got worn down mentally,” said head coach Bill Laimbeer.  “Los Angeles is a very strong team. They’ve been to the finals three years in a row and are former champions. They execute under pressure. We didn’t.”

Laimbeer also publically had very strong words on the performance of Wilson.

“After the game I made it clear to her (Wilson) and the team that she can’t put her head down like that,” said Laimbeer of Wilson.  “It was clear to everybody on her team and everybody in the gym that she missed a couple of shots, became disengaged from the game and dragged the rest of the team down. For the undisputed leader of our ball club, that cannot happen. I think that was made very clear to her. She understands it. We’re going to find out how she deals with it.”

“I take full blame for tonight,” said Wilson. “I didn’t engage the way I needed to be engaged and it showed.  I can’t afford to do that for my team, so in the stretch it was all about mental toughness and I take full blame for it because I was not good.”

Wilson scored 15 points while shooting 6-for-20 from the field and Kayla McBride added 18.

With the loss, the Aces fell to 10-13 on the season, but have still won four of their last five games.

The Aces trail the Connecticut Sun and the Minnesota Lynx by 2.5 games for the 8^th spot in the WNBA standings, as the top eight teams in the league make the playoffs.

The Aces will next play the Mercury on Thursday in Phoenix.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

• The game saw 19 lead changes and six ties.
• A’ja Wilson scored in double figures (15) for the 23rd straight game.
• The Aces have won four of their last 5 games.
• 4,810 Aces fans were in attendance.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
C – 3 Kelsey Bone
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

Photo credit: Las Vegas Aces

By Shawn McCullough

Four Aces scored in double digits as Las Vegas beat the Sky in Chicago 98-74.

Kayla McBride led the Aces with 18 points, including going 3-for-4 from 3-point range, while Tamera Young added 16 points.

Rookie A’ja Wilson scored her second lowest point total of the season with 12 points, going just 4-for-12 from the field.

Las Vegas trailed Chicago 21-17 after the first quarter, but the Aces broke the game open by outscoring the Sky 32-15 in the second quarter.

With the win, the Aces improved to 9-12 on the season and moved to within 1.5 games of the 8^th place Atlanta Dream.

The Aces will next travel to Minnesota to face the Lynx on Friday and then return home on Sunday to host the Los Angeles Sparks at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

• Las Vegas shot 47.9% from the field, while holding Chicago to just 38%
• A’ja Wilson scored in double figures (12) for the 21st straight game.
• Wilson was named the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week
• The Aces have now won four of their last five games.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
C – 3 Kelsey Bone
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

Throughout the season, head coach Bill Laimbeer has characterized his team as young, but his team is now showing signs of resiliency late in games.

The Aces rolled off 12 straight points late in the fourth quarter to beat the Connecticut Sun 94-90 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

“The character of our team is still growing,” said Laimbeer.  “We’re a work in progress but I think this win today goes a long way to helping us build our character. We were down but we did not hang our heads. That’s the one thing that we did not do. We came out in the fourth quarter with the determination to win the game.”

Rookie A’ja Wilson registered her eighth double-double of the season, scoring 34 points and pulling down 14 rebounds, while Kayla McBride scored 27.

Key contributions also came from guard Kelsey Plum with 10 assists and center JiSu Park with nine rebounds.

“I was just really proud of how we fought back,” said McBride.  “It was a team effort and that’s how you have to win and that’s how you have to play games.”

“We really held our composure,” said Wilson on their fourth quarter comeback.  “We know basketball is a game of runs and we know that Connecticut keeps on going. Like coach says, they’re a front-running team. When they get going, we have to just stay within ourselves and keep attacking them in any way. Just control what we can control and I think we did a great job of doing that.”

With the win, the Aces improved to 8-12 on the season, matching the total number of wins of last year’s team, the San Antonio Stars, who went 8-26.

“We are only a game and a half out of a playoff spot right now and we did match last year’s win total today and we have 14 more to go.  I call that progress.”

The Aces trail the Atlanta Dream by 1.5 games for the eighth spot in the WNBA standings, as the top eight teams in the league make the playoffs.

The Aces will next play the Sky on Tuesday in Chicago.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

• A’ja Wilson scored in double figures (34) for the 20th straight game.
• The Aces have now won two straight games and three of their last four.
• 3,363 Aces fans were in attendance.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
C – 3 Kelsey Bone
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 10 Kelsey Plum