ARLINGTON, Texas (Aug. 8, 2023)—After suffering their biggest loss of the season, the Las Vegas Aces (25-3) responded with a dominating 104-84 victory over the host Dallas Wings (15-14) Tuesday evening. A’ja Wilson celebrated her 27th birthday by collecting a double-double of 28 points and 14 rebounds to lead the Aces to victory. Kelsey Plum (20 points), Jackie Young (18), Chelsea Gray (16 points) and Alysha Clark (11) also posted double-digit scoring efforts. Satou Sabally led Dallas with 21 points.
Box Score | Photos | Highlights
KEY RUNS
First Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 24, Dallas 13)
Las Vegas reeled off 16-straight points to start the game before Dallas put up its first points, a 3-pointer by Sabally, at 4:25. During the opening run, the Aces held Dallas to 0 of 8 shooting from the field. Gray led all scorers with 11 points and Wilson added 7 points and 6 rebounds. Sabally’s 7 points led Dallas in the period. The Aces shot 42.9% from the field and 62.5% from 3-point, while limiting Dallas to 27.8% of its field goal attempts and just 16.7% from beyond the arc. The Aces, who outrebounded the Wings 16-9, also outscored the Wings 8-0 on second chance points.
Second Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 54, Dallas 26)
With fewer than 3 minutes elapsed in the period, the Aces lead was 12 points, 35-23. However, led by 7 points from Plum, four different Aces players scored in a 14-0 run to blow the game wide open, 49-23 with 3:58 to go before the half. The Aces held the Wings to 3 of 17 shooting from the floor in the quarter, including zero made field goals in the final 7:51. Plum scored 12 points in the stanza and Young shot 3 of 3 from 3-point for 9 points. The Aces also netted 61.1% from the field and 66.7% from afar. The Aces outscored the Wings 10-3 on the fast break and 8-2 in the paint. Sabally led Dallas with 11 points.
Third Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 86, Dallas 52)
Wilson scored 2 quick buckets before Sabally at 8:21 ended Dallas’ field-goal shooting drought, which spanned a total of 9:30. The Aces went up by as many as 41 points (74-33) midway through the period. From there, Las Vegas began turning to its bench. Wilson was a perfect 6 of 6 from the field and 7 of 7 from the line for 19 points in the period. Sabally scored 7 for Dallas.
Fourth Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 104, Dallas 84)
Dallas won the final frame 32-18, but came no closer than the 20-point finish as the Aces earned their 25th win on the season. Both teams utilized their benches for most of the 4th quarter, and Kierstan Bell responded with an Aces high of 8 points in 10 minutes. Natasha Howard had 9 points for Dallas.
KEY STATS
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The Aces finished the game shooting an even 50% (37-74 FGs) from the field and from 3-point range (16-32 3FGs) and held Dallas to just 37.5% (27-72 FGs) overall, 34.6% (9-26 3FGs) from afar.
Dallas made 21 of 28 (.750) from the line, where the Aces hit 14 of 16 (.875).
The Aces outrebounded Dallas 51-40.
The Aces coughed up 11 points from their 13 turnovers, but converted Dallas’ 7 turnovers into 12 points.
The Aces outscored the Wings 13-5 in second chance points.
GAME NOTES
Young hit 4 of 4 from 3-point range in the first half, which tied her career-high for made 3s in a single half.
The 28 rebounds in the first half was the most by the Aces in a single half this year.
The Wings scored their first points with 4:25 to go in the first quarter. That marked the longest game-opening scoring drought in the W this season (Chicago, 4:41 vs New York, June 4).
Wilson recorded the 71st double-double of her career (28 points, 14 rebounds) in just 24 minutes.
Wilson’s 10 first-half rebounds are the most for her in a half this season (9, 4x, last at Seattle, July 20).
Kiah Stokes grabbed 10 rebounds, marking the second time this season she’s been in double figures (17, at Chicago, July 25).
The Aces have now scored 90+ points in all but 7 games this season.
This WNBA has had 23 100 point scoring games this year, 7 of which are by the Aces.
Arike Ogunbowale, who averaged 21.4 ppg entering the game and Natasha Howard (17.3) were held to 12 and 10 points apiece, respectively.
Dallas entered the game averaging 15.0 second chance points a game, and was held to 5.
Young (25 years, 326 days) has helped the Aces win 112 WNBA games, which ties Mwadi Mabika for the all-time league record for wins before turning 26.
Wilson is coming off the 9th game of her career with fewer than 10 points during the regular season. In the subsequent game following a single-digit effort, she averages 20.4 points and 8.9 rebounds while making 55.9 percent of her shots from the field. She responded to the loss at New York with 28 points and 14 rebounds on 55.6% (10-18 FGs) from the field.
NEXT UP
The Aces return home for a five-game stretch from Aug. 11-19, which includes clashes against Washington (Aug. 11) and Atlanta (Aug. 13), back-to-back contests against New York in the Aug. 15 the Commissioner’s Cup championship game and an Aug. 17 regular season meeting, and the final in the season series against Los Angeles (Aug. 19).