LAS VEGAS (June 19, 2024)—The Las Vegas Aces (7-6) celebrated the return of their Point Gawd Chelsea Gray with a 94-83 victory over the Seattle Storm (9-6) at home on Wednesday night in Michelob ULTRA Arena. Jackie Young led all scorers with 32 points, A’ja Wilson scored 27, Kelsey Plum added 11 points and 8 assists and Alysha Clark and Tiffany Hayes chipped in 10 points apiece.
Nneka Ogwumike score 21 to lead the Storm and Ezi Magbegor added 19 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Box Score | Highlights | Photo Gallery
First Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 29, Seattle 16)
The Aces took an early 5-3 lead (8:21), one they wouldn’t relinquish for the remainder of the game. Holding a 14-11 edge, the Aces closed the stanza on a 15-5 run. Young scored a quarter-high 14 points (6-9 FGs) for the home side and Ogwumike had 5 for the Storm. The Aces made 11 of 21 from the field to the Storm’s 6 of 13 field goal attempts. The Aces, who had no turnovers in the period, converted the Storm’s 6 turnovers into 9 points and outscored the Storm 12-6 points in the paint.
Second Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 47, Seattle 32)
An 8-2 spurt by the Storm sliced the Aces lead to single digits, 39-30, with 3:40 left in the first half. However, the Aces countered with an 8-2 run of their own to end the half up by 15. Hayes and Young scored 5 apiece for the Aces, while Ogwumike finished with 7 for Seattle. Las Vegas connected on 46.7% of its field goal attempts, while holding Seattle to 37.5%.
Third Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 66, Seattle 54)
The Aces, whose lead never fell below 11 points, shot 53.8% from the field to the Storm’s 39.1%. Plum, 8 points, and Young, 7, led the Aces. Ogwumike scored 9 for Seattle.
Fourth Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 94, Seattle 83)
A late 11-2 surge by the Storm brought them back to an 11-point deficit, but the Aces let them get no closer. Wilson led all fourth-quarter scorers with 16 points, while Jordan Horston had 13 for Seattle. The Storm connected on 55.6% from the field for their best shooting quarter of the game. However, the Aces were a red-hot 71.4%
KEY STATS
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The Aces shot 55.6% on the game, including 40% from 3-point range (8-20 3pt FGs), while the Storm made 44.3% of their attempts overall and 25% (4-16 3pt FGs) from distance.
The Aces outscored the Storm 15-7 on second chance points.
Both teams coughed up the ball 15 times apiece, off of which the Storm scored 20 and the Aces scored 14.
Las Vegas held Jewell Loyd, who was averaging 19.8 points per game coming into the game, to just 1 point on 0 for 9 shooting from the field.
GAME NOTES
Chelsea Gray checked into the game with 1:41 to play in the first quarter. It was her first game played since October 15, 2023, when she injured her left foot in Game 3 of the 2023 WNBA Finals. She handed out her first assist of the 2024 season on a Clark triple with 1:21 to go in the period. That was also the 1,500th assist of Gray’s career. She now has 1,506 and is the 9th player in WNBA history with at least 1,500 assists.
Gray (3,684 points, 1,506 assists) became the 7th player in WNBA history with at least 3,500 points and 1,500 assists, and was the third-fastest to accomplish the feat, doing so in 299 games (Sue Bird, 279; Lindsay Whalen, 294).
Wilson has scored at least 20 points in 18 straight regular season games which extended her WNBA record.
Wilson had 2 blocked shots and lists No. 15 on the WNBA career blocks chart and No. 4 among active players with 375. She needs 11 more to move into the No. 14 spot (Tamika Catchings, 385).
The 32 points marked Young’s second time this season and third time in her career she’s scored 30 or more points.
Las Vegas has been responsible for 4 of Jewell Loyd’s 9 lowest scoring outputs of her career—0 points on July 19, 2019; 1 point on August 7, 2022, 1 point this evening, and 2 points on June 25, 2019.
Hayes earned her first start with the Aces.
The Aces now hold an all-time 45-44 edge over the Storm in regular season play, including 28-16 at home.
The Aces were without the services of Kierstan Bell (lower right leg injury).
The Aces welcomed 10,380 fans to Michelob ULTRA Arena, which equals the fourth-highest attendance at an aces game at MUA.
NEXT UP
Las Vegas concludes its 3-game home stand on Friday, June 21 as they welcome the Connecticut Sun to Michelob ULTRA Arena. Tip is slated for 7 pm PT on ION.