GAME RECAP: A'ja Wilson Scores 5'000th Point in 85-59 Las Vegas Victory Over the Connecticut Sun
LAS VEGAS (June 25, 2025) — On a night when A’ja Wilson became the fastest player in league history to score 5’000 career points, the Las Vegas Aces (7-7) picked up a 85-59 victory over the Connecticut Sun (2-13) on Wednesday night in Michelob ULTRA Arena. Wilson finished with 22 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocked shots; Jackie Young added 20 points and 8 caroms; Chelsea Gray finished with 15 points, 7 boards, 6 assists and 3 blocks; while Jewell Loyd chipped in 13 points to go with 7 rebounds.
Tina Charles scored a team-high 18 for Connecticut.
Box Score | Photos | Highlights
KEY RUNS
First Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 21, Connecticut 6)
The Aces sprinted out to a 19-0 run to open the game. By the time the Sun put up their first points at 1:58, the Aces defense had forced Connecticut into shooting 0-of-11 from the field, while flipping 5 Sun turnovers into 8 points. Loyd paced all scorers with 8 points on a perfect 3-3 from the field and no Sun player scored more than 2. The Aces, who outrebounded the Sun 16-8, netted 36.4% (8-22 FGs) of their field goal attempts and held Connecticut to just 18.8% (3-16 FGs) of theirs.
Second Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 40, Connecticut 29)
The Sun flipped the switch and launched an 11-3 run to open the second quarter, shrinking the Aces lead to 24-17 at 5:44. Las Vegas countered with 8 unanswered points, the final bucket coming from Wilson at 4:04, which upped her career point total to 5,001 and the Aces lead to 32-17. Connecticut’s shooting improved to 37.5% in the second quarter, but so did Las Vegas’ (.421). Gray and Charles topped the quarter’s scoring with 8 apiece for their respective sides.
Third Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 68, Connecticut 46)
Connecticut put together a 7-0 spurt coming out of the locker room to pull with 4, two minutes into the second half. The Aces responded with back-to-back 3s from Young, which sparked a 20-2 run that ballooned the lead to 20 points, 60-40 at 3:26. The Sun never got closer than 15 points in the game. The Aces netted a red-hot 60% (9-15 FGS) from the floor and 57.1% (4-7 3pt FGs) from distance, while the Sun hit 44.4% (8-18 FGs) and made just 1-of-5 from afar. Wilson scored a quarter-high 12 points and Jacy Sheldon had a high of 5 for Connecticut.
Fourth Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 85, Connecticut 59)
The Aces largest lead of the game came at the end after an and-1 by Dana Evans with 38.5 seconds remaining for the final points of the game.
KEY STATS
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The Aces connected on 42.9% (30-70 FGs) from the floor and 39.3% (11-28 3pt FGs) from distance, while holding Connecticut to 32.4% (23-71 FGs) shooting from the field and an icy 15.4% (2-13 3pt FGs) from 3-point.
Las Vegas outrebounded Connecticut 45-30.
The Aces coughed up 11 points on 15 turnovers, but scored 18 points off of Connecticut’s 13 miscues.
The Aces outscored the Sun 32-28 points in the paint and 13-8; the Sun edged the Aces 7-4 on the fast break.
The Las Vegas bench outscored Connecticut’s reserves 15-5.
Kierstan Bell scored a season-high-tying 8 points off the bench.
Olivia Nelson-Ododa scored 12 points and Saniya Rivers chipped in 10 as Connecticut’s other two double-digit scorers.
GAME NOTES
Needing just 7 to hit the 5’000-point mark entering the game, Wilson became the 28th WNBA player to score 5,000 career points. Having played in 238 games, she is the quickest to 5’000 — Breanna Stewart scored her 5,000th point in 242 games — and at 28 years and 321 days, is the second-youngest to the mark after Lauren Jackson did so in 28 years and 96 days (game No. 259).
Wilson, who now has 5,015 points, also became just the 6th player in league history have compiled 5,000 points, 2,000 rebounds, 500 assists, 400 blocked shots and 200 steals, and was the fastest and youngest to hit those marks. Prior to tonight, Lisa Leslie and Candace Parker held the league record for fastest, having done so in 287 games. However, Breanna Stewart also completed the quinfecta tonight, but hers came in 275 games at 30 years and 302 days, making her the second-youngest and second-fastest. CP3 previously held the record for the youngest when she reached the milestone at 32 years, 108 days.
The Aces held Connecticut scoreless for the first 8:02 of the contest, which is the fifth-longest opening scoring drought in WNBA history. The longest came when the San Antonio Silver Stars held Los Angeles scoreless for exactly 11 minutes on Aug. 9, 2003. The Silver Stars went on to win 69-52 behind 28 points from Margo Dydek and 25 from Jennifer Azzi.
Wilson has scored in double figures in each of her past 62 regular season games, the 7th longest streak in league history and longest active streak. Arike Ogunbowale owns the sixth-longest such streak with 65.
Loyd now has 5,697 points for her career, which ranks No. 19 in WNBA history. Breanna Stewart is No. 18 with 5,713; Wilson is at No. 27, with Tangela Smith‘s 5,046 points sitting at No. 26.
With 6 assists, Gray now has 1,687 career assists, which ranks No. 7 among all-time WNBA assist leaders. Becky Hammon is No. 6 with 1,708.
Young went 3 of 3 from the line and has now made 34 consecutive free throws, dating to June 11.
Young has 2,945 career points and is 55 away from her 3,000th point.
The Aces hosted 10,432 fans in recording their 34th consecutive sellout
The Aces were without Megan Gustafson (lower left leg) and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus (pregnancy).
UP NEXT: The Aces will be right back in Michelob ULTRA Arena tomorrow night for a 7 pm tip against the Washington Mystics (7-8). The game will be broadcast locally on Vegas 34.
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