LAS VEGAS (Sept. 22, 2026) – With the help of a pair of double-doubles from A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young, the Las Vegas Aces (30-13) defeated the Los Angeles Sparks (16-27) on Tuesday night in front of their 68^th consecutive sellout crowd at Michelob ULTRA Arena. Wilson finished with game-bests of 18 points and 10 rebounds, Chelsea Gray followed with 17 points, Young scored 14 and dished out a game-high 11 assists, Steph Talbot equaled Young’s 14 points and had a game-high 3 steals and Jewell Loyd chipped in 9 points. The win clinched home court advantage for the Aces in the first round of playoffs.

Fifteen-year WNBA veteran Nneka Ogwumike, who was the No. 1 pick and Rookie of the Year in 2012, the 2016 league MVP and a 2016 WNBA champion, among a host of other honors, and who is retiring at the end of the season, posted team-highs of 17 points and 9 points in her final game in Las Vegas.

Stats | Gallery | Highlights

TEAM	1	2	3	4	Final
Aces	24	18	23	24	89
Sparks	11	22	18	28	79

1st Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 24, Los Angeles 11)
After spotting LA an early 5-2 lead, the Aces reeled off 15 straight points to move in front 17-5. During the 5-and-a-half-minute run, in which 4 different Aces put points on the board, Las Vegas held Los Angeles to 0 of 6 from the field and forced 5 turnovers. Overall, the Aces hit 10 of 19 (.526) from the field but just 1 of 5 from deep and held LA to 4 of 13 (.308) from the floor and 1 of 6 behind the arc. Additionally, the Aces scored 10 points off 7 LA turnovers. Talbot, who was a perfect 3 of 3 from the field, and Wilson scored 6 points apiece. Rae Burrell equaled Talbot’s and Wilson’s production on the other end.

2nd Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 42, Los Angeles 33)
After back-to-back Aces 3s, the Las Vegas advantage was its largest of the half, 35-18, with 5 minutes to play before the break. That’s when the tide turned as the Sparks hit 5 of their next 6 shots over an 11-0 run to close the gap to 35-29. During LA’s scoring spree, the Aces missed all 4 attempts and coughed up the ball once. Loyd stopped the bleeding with a 3-pointer with 2 minutes left, and the teams swapped buckets over the remainder of the half. The Aces hit 7 of 18 (.389) from the field and 4 of 8 from deep, while the Sparks made 10 of 19 (.526) of their tries and 2 of 6 from distance. Gray scored a high of 7 for the Aces and Erica Wheeler led all scorers with 10.

3rd Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 65, Los Angeles 51)
The Aces lead vacillated between 7-12 points over the first 7 minutes of the quarter and stood at 11 after a Wilson 3-pointer made it 56-45. That was the spark the Aces needed. Loyd followed Wilson’s trey with back-to-back 3s, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus scored 1 from the line and Young hit a shot in the 12-2 run for a 65-47 advantage with 44.1 seconds left in the stanza. The Sparks scored the final 4 to cut the Aces lead down to 14 with 10 minutes to play. The Aces made 9 of 16 (.562) from the field and 4 of 8 behind the arc, while the Sparks were held to 7 of 17 (.412) overall and 1 of 4 from deep. Loyd led Las Vegas with 6 points; Ogwumike led the Sparks with 8.

4th Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 89, Los Angeles 79)
The Aces maintained a distance in double figures through most of the final frame, going up by as many as 17 points on 2 occasions, until a traditional 3-point play with 60 seconds to play cut it down to 87-78. The Sparks hit a red-hot 61.1% (11-18 FGs) of their field goal attempts and 3 of 5 from 3-point, while the Aces made 47.1% (8-17 FGs) from the floor and were held to 2 of 7 from deep. Ariel Atkins and Wilson scored 7 apiece for their respective teams.

KEY STATS
The ACLU is currently tracking 529 anti-LGBTQ+ bills across our nation, zero of which are in Nevada.

Women still make just 78 cents for every dollar earned by men. Black women earn only 64 cents and Latinas only 54 cents for each dollar earned by white men.

All 10 Aces players who got into the game put points on the board.

The Sparks led for 1 minute, 33 seconds early in the first quarter.

	FGM-A	PCT	3PM-A	PCT	FTM-A	PCT	OFF	DEF	REB	AT	PF	ST	TO	BK
Aces	34-70	.486	11-28	.393	10-14	.714	5	24	29	21	12	8	10	5
Sparks	32-67	.478	7-21	.333	8-11	.717	6	24	30	16	17	8	13	3

Points scored ….

	In the Paint	2nd Chance	Fast Break	Off TOs	Bench
Aces	44	10	22	18	24
Sparks	38	7	10	8	26

GAME NOTES

Of the approximately 1,200 women who have played in the WNBA, Gray, Loyd, Wilson and Young are among the top 50 winningest players in league history. Gray is No. 9 (285 victories), Loyd is tied at No. 27 (233), Wilson is 45 (215) and tonight’s win pushed Young (206) into a tie for No. 50.

Young’s 11 assists pushed her past Kristi Toliver (1,301) and into the No. 25 spot on the WNBA’s all-time list with 1,311 dimes. No. 24 Dawn Staley is next up with 1,337 assists.

Gray entered the game tied with Sylvia Fowles (490) at No. 25 on the W’s all-time steals list, moved past Lisa Leslie (492) and now sits at No. 23 with 493 career steals. No. 22 is Shannon Johnson with 493.

Wilson entered the game sitting at No. 13 on the WNBA leaderboards for field goals made with 2,443. With 7 made tonight, she passed Cappie Pondexter (2,446) and moved into No. 12 with 2,450 total FGM. No. 11 is Brittney Griner (2,452) and No. 10 is Seimone Augustus (2,455).

With her 7 made field goals, Gray passed Adrienne Goodson (991) on the franchise list and now stands at No. 6 with 993 field goals made. Becky Hammon is No. 5 with 1,137.

Talbot’s 14 points was a season high, surpassing the 10 she scored at Golden State on May 31.

Wilson’s double-double was her 19^th on the season and 139^th of her career.

Wilson has scored in double figures in a league-leading 64 consecutive games.

Young’s double-double was the 19^th of her career and 7^th on the season, 6 of which this year have been points/assists. Her performance tonight moved her up to No. 7 in franchise history in double-doubles with 19, passing Liz Cambage.

Up Next: The Aces wrap up regular season play against the Phoenix Mercury (15-27) on Thursday, Sept. 24, at Mortgage Matchup Center. The game tips off at 7 p.m., is televised nationally on USA and CNBC, locally on The Spot-Vegas 34 and on the Aces Live streaming service.

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