Washington, DC (September 19, 2019)—Las Vegas nearly stole home court advantage from Washington Tuesday evening, leading by as many as seven in the third quarter, but the Mystics held off the Aces, 97-95, to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five WNBA Semifinal match up. The winner of the first game of a five-game WNBA series has gone on to win the series 80-percent of the time (16-4).
KEY RUNS
First Quarter (Mystics 30, Aces 27)
Las Vegas led 10-9 with 4:27 gone in the quarter, but Washington scored 12 straight to go up 21-10. The Mystics extended their lead to 24-13, but the Aces closed the first scoring 14 of the final 20 points.
Second Quarter (Aces 57, Mystics 50)
Washington led 41-38 with 5:18 remaining in the half, but the Aces scored 10 straight to take their largest lead of the game up to that point, 48-41.
Third Quarter (Mystics 76, Aces 73)
The Mystics scored the first seven points coming out of the locker room to tie the score
Fourth Quarter (Mystics 97, Aces 95)
After scoring the final three points of the third, Washington opened the fourth by scoring nine of the first 11 points to take an 85-75 lead with 7:55 remaining.
KEY STATS
Las Vegas made 50.0 percent of their shots compared to 44.7 for Washington, but the Mystics took 85 hots to 70 for the Aces.
The Mystics went 11 for 28 from three-point range (39.3%), while the Aces went 7 for 13 53.8).
Las Vegas went 18 for 22 from the free throw line, while Washington went 10 for 10.
The Mystics topped the Aces 22 to 17 in second chance points
Las Vegas committed 13 turnovers which Washington turned into 19 points, while the Mystics committed 6 miscues, which the Aces turned into 9 points.
Las Vegas’ bench outscored Washington’s 30-16.
GAME NOTES
Liz Cambage recorded her third straight postseason double-double in three games with 19 points and 12 rebounds.
Kelsey Plum recorded her second double-digit scoring effort to start her postseason career with 16 points, and just missed out on a double-double, adding 9 assists.
A’ja Wilson recorded her second straight double-digit scoring effort to start her postseason career with 23 points.
NEXT GAME
Las Vegas remains in Washington for game two of the best-three-out-of-five semifinal series, Thursday, September 21 at 5:30 pm PT