LAS VEGAS (Sept. 19, 2024)—On a night when the Aces ‘Core Four’ were resting, the remainder of the team stepped up in a 98-84 victory over the visiting Dallas Wings (9-31) Thursday night. Megan Gustafson led the way for Las Vegas (27-13) in her first start in Michelob ULTRA Arena with a career-high 24 points. Tiffany Hayes (21 points), Sydney Colson (13) and Kierstan Bell (12) posted season highs, while Alysha Clark rounded out the double-digit Aces scorers with 10.
Dallas was led by a game-high 25 points from Satou Sabally.
The result of the game was immaterial with regards to playoff seeding as Connecticut’s win over Chicago earlier in the day locked the Aces into the 4 seed, and they will take on the 5th-seed Seattle Storm in the best-of-3 First Round series.
Box Score | Highlights | Photo Gallery
First Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 30, Dallas 30)
The Wings took a 14-10 lead, their largest of the game, at 5:58. The Aces countered with a 10-0 run expanded their lead to 28-20 at 1:58. Dallas closed the period on a 10-2 spurt to even the game after 10 minutes of play. Hayes scored 9 points on a perfect 3 of 3 from distance and Sabally had 11 for Dallas. The Aces netted 55.6% of their shots from the field, including 6 of 11 (.545) from 3-point range, while the Wings made 50% of their field goal attempts and 5 of 7 (.714) from afar
Second Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 60, Dallas 45)
A 12-0 run over the first 2:04 of the second quarter gave the Aces some separation. However, Dallas strung together 6 straight points, slicing the Aces lead to 49-42 at 3:52. Las Vegas scored the next 11 points before a 3-pointer by Dallas stopped the run for the final points of the half. The Aces continued shooting well in the second frame, hitting on 50% from the field, while holding Dallas to 31.6%. Las Vegas outscored Dallas 12-4 points in the paint. Clark led the Aces with 8 points and Bell added 7. Sabally led Dallas with 6 points.
Third Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 88, Dallas 68)
The Aces lead never dropped below 10 points and a Hayes 8-footer with 1.2 seconds on the clock upped the lead to 20. The Wings made 57.1% of their field goal attempts, but just hit 1 from distance, while the Aces were an even 50% from the floor and made a trio of 3s. The Aces gave up 0 points off a pair of turnovers and scored 10 off the 4 miscues by the Wings. Gustafson scored 12 points, her career high in a single quarter, while Sabally contributed 8 for the Wings.
Fourth Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 98, Dallas 84)
A 13-0 run by the Wings made it a 9-point game, 90-81, with 5 minutes left to play. However, the Aces responded with a game-ending 8-3 spurt. Neither team shot well in the final frame, with Dallas hitting 36.8% of their shots to the Aces 26.7%.
KEY STATS
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The Aces shot 35 of 75 from the field (.467) and 15 of 37 from 3-point range (.405), while the Wings made 30 of 70 (.429) overall and 9 of 20 (.450) from distance.
The Wings outscored the Aces 17-11 in fast break points.
The Aces outrebounded the Wings 38-33, 10-7 on the offensive glass.
Both teams turned the ball over 13 times each, from which the Aces scored 26 points and the Wings managed to score 17.
GAME NOTES
The 60 points scored in the first half marked a season-high for points in a half for Las Vegas after previously scoring 54 points twice, last vs. Seattle on July 10.
The Aces 15 made 3-pointers equaled their season-high (Sept. 8 at New York).
Hayes scored a season-high 21 points to give her 4,623 for her career, moving into 35th place on the all-time W scoring list. Elena Delle Donne is No. 34 with 4,706.
Hayes tied her season-high assists tally with 5.
Gustafson’s 25 points surpassed her previous career-best 19 points (at Atlanta, July 25, 2023) and her 12 points in the third quarter bettered the 11 points she scored twice in a quarter (last vs Seattle, Aug. 5, 2023). Her 7 rebounds were a season-high (6, 3 times, last vs Dallas, July 7).
Colson made her first start since the 2017 season when she was with the San Antonio Silver Stars. Colson started the first 4 games of the year that season, with the last one coming on May 25, 2017.
Bell’s 12 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists were season highs.
Queen Egbo recorded season-highs of 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Colson’s 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots were all season highs.
Kate Martin made the 2nd start of her WNBA career and dished out a career-high 4 assists.
The Aces were without the services of Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young (rest) while the Wings were without Teaira McCowan (suspended), Arike Ogunbowale (illness) and Stephanie Soares (left knee).
NEXT UP
The Aces host the Seattle Storm in the First Round of the WNBA Playoffs beginning Sunday, Sept. 22, at 7 pm. The game will be broadcast nationally by ESPN.