Tag: Liz Cambage

Cambage scores 28 to help Aces stave off elimination 92-75

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photo from reviewjournal.com: Las Vegas Aces guard Kayla McBride (21) high fives Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum (10) before the start of Vegas’ WNBA semifinals game with the Washington Mystics on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2019, at Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas

By Jeremy Kahn

Las Vegas Aces Head Coach Bill Laimbeer was furious after he did not get a crucial timeout in the waning seconds of Game One against the Washington Mystics, but his team stepped up when it counted most.

With their back against the wall, as the Aces trailed the Mystics two games to none in the best of five semifinal series, Liz Cambage was the leader on this night.

Cambage scored 28 points, as the Aces defeated the Mystics 92-75 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

”Our focus is win our home games,” said Cambage, who finished 12 of 15 from the field. ”It would have been nice to win one in Washington, but we know coming back here we’d have our fans to lift us up, we’d have our homecourt – we just had to get the job done tonight. It’s a playoff series, that’s the beauty of it, you learn on the run and all of the mistakes we made in the first couple of games, we really focused on fixing them and getting the job done tonight.”

The loss by the Mystics stopped a eight game winning streak, as they last lost on August 23 against the Chicago Sky.

AJa Wilson scored 21 points, and Kayla McBride chipped in with 18 and the Aces forced a game four on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.

WNBA MVP Elena Della Donne led the Mystics with 22 points, Kristi Tolliver scored 14 and Aerial Powers dropped in 14.

‘I thought that they got into their post game better tonight, we didn’t do as good a job,” Washington coach Mike Thibault said. ”They put more pressure on us and we didn’t shoot the ball well. The same people that made a lot of shots the other night didn’t make shots today and that was the difference. This is the first really stinker of a game we’ve had in a long time.”

The Aces took the lead for good In the second quarter, as they trailed by two; however, after a 12-0 run over a four minute period, the Aces took a 10-point lead and never gave up the lead.

Playoff Schedule:
Game 1 Mystics 97, Aces 95
Game 2 Mystics 103, Aces 91
Game 3 Sunday, September 22 Ace 92 Mystics 75
 Game 4 Tuesday, September 24 Mystics at Aces
Game 5 Thursday, September 26 Aces at Mystics (if needed)

NOTES: Kelsey Plum was in the starting lineup after coming off the bench in the first two games of the series, and scored nine points and also dished off nine assists.

UP NEXT: The Aces and Mystics will meet on Tuesday night in Game Four at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Associated Press contributed to this report

Aces win in Indianapolis, push their way to the top the WNBA standings

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By Morris Phillips

INDIANAPOLIS — Aces’ head coach Bill Laimbeer might be losing sleep, fretting about his team’s slow starts, overall intensity and perimeter scoring, but at least tonight, he’ll experience his insomnia at the top of the WNBA standings.

The Aces pushed their win streak to four by outlasting the Indiana Fever, 74-71, on Wednesday afternoon at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Fever were limited to ten, fourth quarter points, and A’ja Wilson made a pair of free throws with seven seconds remaining to give the Aces their final cushion. Las Vegas got the win despite trailing by five after three quarters, and shooting just 36.5 percent from the floor.

“We didn’t play well, but we got the win,” Laimbeer said. “That’s the sign of a good team.”

The Aces fell behind 8-0, failing to score in the game’s first four minutes, then with a slim, 53-50 lead late in the third quarter, they surrendered an 11-1 run to the Fever, in which they suffered their biggest deficit of the afternoon (61-54 with four seconds remaining). While Wilson and Cambage were effective scorers from the free throw line in, the Las Vegas perimeter trio of Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Sugar Rodgers combined to miss 14 of their 21 shots.

Those issues touched on all of Laimbeer’s reoccurring fears that threaten to prevent the Aces from morphing into a WNBA title contender, but on Wednesday, they didn’t prevent the club from snatching a victory.  In the final quarter, the defense stiffened, forcing the Fever to miss 13 of their final 17 shots. Rodgers came up with a big three to start the fourth, and Wilson and Cambage provided all the offense down the stretch.

The Fevers’ Candice Dupree had a chance to tie the game in the final 10 seconds, but missed the second of two free throws, and Wilson was fouled after grabbing the rebound. After sinking both free throws, Wilson and the Aces survived when Kelsey Mitchell’s jumper bounced off the rim with a second remaining.

“I thought the defense was solid enough, but we didn’t put ourselves in position to win the basketball game,” Indiana coach Pokey Chatman conceded.

Jake Schuman, a 4-year old from suburban Indianapolis, sang the national anthem, all part of a youthful, matinee crowd announced at 9,247 that may not have been basketball savvy, but was plenty loud. The Fever opened a three-game home stand hoping to capture their biggest win of the season, but came up three points short.

The Aces have won 8 of 10 after a 2-3 start, and in ascending to the top of the league standings, benefitted from the suspension of their home game against the Mystics, in which they trailed by double digits at the half. The remainder of that game has yet to be rescheduled, but in its absence, the Aces, at least for now, are on top.

“It’s been a really, long time since we’ve been in first place in anything,” Kayla McBride said. “But I feel like we’re really jelling as a team.”