Las Vegas Plagued By Foul Trouble, Falls 95-90 At Chicago

CHICAGO, IL (June 3, 2018)—The Las Vegas Aces jumped out of the gates building a 15-point lead in the second quarter, but foul trouble limited rookie of the year favorite A’ja Wilson to just 22 minutes, and the Chicago Sky battled back to send the Aces to a 95-90 defeat.

KEY RUNS

Leading 10-9, the Aces (1-5) scored the next 11 points to go up by 12. A’ja Wilson scored 12 of Las Vegas’ first 21 points on 5 of 7 shooting from the field.

The Aces led by 15, 44-29, with 5:14 to go in the first half following a Kayla McBride three-pointer. The Sky (3-3) closed the lead to 52-45 at the half, and scored nine of the first 11 points after the break to tie the score at 54. Chicago took its first lead since early in the game at 63-61 on a Courtney Vandersloot three, and Las Vegas never regained the lead.

KEY STATS

Las Vegas was whistled for a season-high 27 personal fouls. That allowed Chicago to take 38 free throws on the night, making 32. The Aces, who entered the game ranked second in the WNBA in free throw attempts (25.7) and makes (19.3) per game, went just 10 for 16 from the charity stripe.

A’ja Wilson was limited to 11 minutes in the first half due to accumulating three personal fouls. She picked up her fourth foul with 1:11 gone in the third quarter, and logged just 22 minutes in the game, scoring 22 points.

Chicago out rebounded Las Vegas 40-27,  including 12-2 on the offensive end. That led to a 17-4 second chance points advantage for the Sky.

GAME NOTES

A’ja Wilson reached double figures in scoring for the sixth time in her career (22 points).

Kayla McBride reached double figures in scoring for the third time in four games this season (18).

Dearica Hamby scored a career-high 24 points on 11 of 13 shooting from the field.

The Aces have increased their bench scoring every games this season (11, 13, 20, 27, 29, 42 at Chicago)

Kelsey Plum drained her first three-pointers of the season, and finished the game 3 for 4 from beyond the arc for a season-high 11 points.

Nia Coffey injured her left ankle with 3:11 to go in the second half with the score 46-34 Las Vegas. She did not return.

Las Vegas set its franchise record for assists in a game with 33. The previous high was 30 against Los Angeles on September 5, 2009.