Aces rally late, fall short to Wings, 82-80

Photo Credit: AP Photo/Elaine Thompson

By Shawn McCullough

The Aces erased a 14-point deficit in the 4th quarter, but fell short to the Wings, 82-80, in Dallas.

“Hard fought game,” said head coach Becky Hammon. “I thought we were digging out of a hole most of the game, but we were there at the end.”

Down two points with 3.8 seconds left, guard Chelsea Gray inbounded the ball on a set play to spring center A’ja Wilson, but Wilson missed the layup to send the game to overtime.

“It happens,” said Gray. “It’s going to hurt, but we should have never been in that position in the first place.”

“A’ja was the first option, it was a catch and shoot play,” said Hammon.

Wings center Teaira McCowan led Dallas with 21 points and 16 rebounds.

“That’s a team [Dallas] that is playing for its playoff life and they are playing well right now,” said Hammon.

Gray led the Aces with 28 points, hitting five three-point shots, while forward Jackie Young added 19.

“My teammates were getting me the ball and I was just knocking them down,” said Gray.

With the loss, the Aces fell to 22-10 on the season.

The Aces will play the last game of a five-game road trip on Sunday against the Storm in Seattle.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

The Aces shot 44.9% from the field and hit 10 shots from three-point range.
Las Vegas was out-rebounded by the Wings, 37-32.
The Aces got just two points off the bench.

Game Starters:

C – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 5 Dearica Hamby
F – 0 Jackie Young
G – 10 Kelsey Plum
G – 12 Chelsea Gray

Aces Injury Report:

None

Aces make it three straight beating Wings 92-84; Vegas’ tenth win in last 11 games

Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum (10) (below) takes aim at the free throw line and (top) forward A’ja Wilson (22) takes a jump shot against the Dallas Wings at College Park Center in WNBA action on Wed Jun 15, 2022 (Image from the Las Vegas Aces Twitter account)

Aces Make It Three Straight Beating Wings 92-84

By Barbara Mason

Wednesday afternoon the Western Conference leading Las Vegas Aces (12-2) took on the Dallas Wings (6-8) at College Park Center.

The Aces had a slow start trailing by as much as ten points in the first quarter. After 12 minutes Las Vegas trailed by the score of 23-14.

The second quarter ended up a tie 21-21 and at the half the Wings led 44-35. Las Vegas had some ground to make up in the second half.

The Aces tuned on the heat in the third quarter and turned the tables on the Wings winning the quarter 31-16 in a blowout. They scored 31 third quarter points to lead 66-60 after three.

The Wings continue to hang in this game but came up short. The Aces won the fourth quarter 26-24 and the game 92.84.

Teams have been able to challenge Las Vegas but have been unable to finish games largely in part to the play of A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum. The Las Vegas starting roster is a great one. Plum and Wilson combined for 52 points to put this one away.

In addition to Plum’s 27 and Wilson’s 25, they had some great offense from Chelsea Gray and Dearica Hamby both with 16 points. Jackie Young finished with eight points. Hamby led the team in rebounds with 12 for some solid defensive play. This is the Aces third win in a row.

Next up for the Aces will be a game with the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:00 PM.