LAS VEGAS (Sept. 9, 2025)—Utilizing a well-balanced team effort, the Las Vegas Aces improved to 29-14, extended their winning streak to 15 straight and moved back into the No. 2 spot for playoff seeding with a 92-61 victory over the Chicago Sky (10-33) on Tuesday night in T-Mobile Arena. Jewell Loyd, who tallied her 6,000th career point with her 3rd trey of the night, and Jackie Young each scored 15 points to top all scorers. Dana Evans and NaLyssa Smith added 13 points apiece, A’ja Wilson scored 11 and Chelsea Gray chipped in 10.

Kamilla Cardoso and Michaela Onyenwere scored 13 apiece for Chicago.

Box Score | Gallery | Highlights

PLAYOFF PICTURE: Currently tied with Atlanta (29-14) in record, the Aces own the tiebreaker and need to win their final game (Los Angeles, Sept. 11) to ensure the No. 2 seed. No. 1 Minnesota (33-10), and currently ranked No. 4 Phoenix (27-16), No. 5 New York (26-17), No. 6 Indiana (24-20), No. 7 Golden State (23-20) and No. 8 Seattle Storm (23-21) round out the teams that have clinched a spot in the playoffs. Seeding is still up in the air in this year’s tightly contested standings and will be finalized following Thursday’s games. The first game of the playoffs will be hosted Sunday, Sept. 14, with game times listed at 10 a.m (all times Pacific), 12 p.m., 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.

The WNBA Playoffs schedule can be found here.

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	Final
Aces	28	15	23	26	92
Sky	14	21	11	15	61

First Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 28, Chicago 14)
Chicago got the first bucket and led for a total of 44 seconds before Smith swished in a 3-pointer at 8:58. After a Sky turnover, Wilson netted a 3, then Nye made a bucket for an 8-2 Aces lead. Chicago outscored Las Vegas 6-1 and narrowed the gap to 9-8 with 5:28 on the clock. However, a 15-0 Aces run, which featured 3s from a trio of players, blew open the game 24-8 at 2:13. The Aces shot 62.5% (10-16 FGs) from the field and 55.6% (5-9 3pt FGs) from distance, while their defense held the Sky to 37.5% (6-16 FGs) of their field goal attempts and 0 of 3 behind the arc. The Aces scored 8 points off the Sky’s 4 turnovers and gave up just 2 on their own 3 miscues. Wilson led all scorers with 7 points, Cardoso and Onyenwere had 6 apiece for Chicago.

Second Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 43, Chicago 35)
Las Vegas continued to hold its double-figure lead and following a Gray bucket at 4:28, held a 37-23 advantage. However, Chicago scored on its next possession to kick-start a 10-0 run that sliced the gap to 37-33 with less than 2 minutes to play before halftime. Las Vegas outscored Chicago 6-2 to close the half. Las Vegas’ shooting cooled to 42.9% (6-14 FGs) and 2 of 5 from distance; Chicago improved to 50% from the floor and went 2 of 6 behind the arc. Gray scored a high of 7 and Rebecca Allen matched with 7 for Chicago.

Third Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 66, Chicago 46)
Neither team shot well out of the locker rooms—the Aces went 1 of 7 from the field and the Sky shot 1 of 5 and committed a trio of turnovers over the first 3 minutes and 49 seconds in the frame. A Young steal and layup at 4:11 sparked an 11-0 run that expanded to 18-4 and left the Aces in charge 64-42 at 1:39. The Sky finished the third shooting 2 of 14 (.143) from the floor and 1 of 7 (.143) from distance, while the Aces improved to 8 of 16 overall and 4 of 7 from 3. Young topped all scorers with 10 points and Maddy Westbeld had 5 on the other end.

Fourth Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas, Chicago)
The Aces lead never dropped below 18 in the final frame. The Aces shot a blistering 62.5% (10-16 FGs) from the field and connected on 4 of 8 from distance; the Sky was held to just 25% (3-12 FGs) and 16.7% (1-6 3pt FGs) from afar, but made all 8 of their free throw attempts. With Wilson and Young sitting the entire fourth quarter, Gray seeing just 2:13 and Smith getting 4:29 of playing time, the Aces turned to their bench, and it delivered. Evans scored 8 points and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus had 6, while Kia Nurse tallied a high of 5 for the Sky.

KEY STATS:
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The Aces finished shooting 34 of 62 (.548) from the field and 15 of 29 (.517) from distance; the Sky were held to 19 of 58 (.328) overall and 4 of 22 (.182) behind the arc.

Chicago made 19 of its 20 (.950) free throw attempts, while Las Vegas hit 9 of 12 (.750).

Rebounding was even at 27 apiece.

The Aces dished out 26 assists to the Sky’s 12.

The Aces gave up just 7 points – 2 in the second half – from their 8 turnovers and scored 26 points off Chicago’s 15 miscues.

The Aces edged the Sky 28-26 points in the paint, outscored them 12-4 on the fast break but lost 12-8 on second chance points.

The Aces bench outscored the Sky reserves 41-20.

GAME NOTES

Loyd entered the game with 5,991 points and in need of just 9 for her 6,000th career points. With her 15 points, she now has 6,006 and passed Seimone Augustus (6,005) for No.15 on the WNBA all-time scoring list. She could move into a tie with No. 14 Lauren Jackson (6,007) with just 1 point against LA. After hitting a 3-pointer in both the first and second quarter, Loyd’s 6,000th point — another 3 — came at 5:39 in the third quarter. She finished the game 5 of 7 from deep.

With 4 made free throws tonight, Wilson passed Cappie Pondexter (1,455) to move to No. 8 on the league’s all-time free throws made list. Tina Charles is No. 1 with 1,470.

The 41 bench points were the second-most scored by the Aces this season. Previously the reserves scored 50 points against Golden State on Aug. 3.

Las Vegas became the 4th team in WNBA history to reach 15 consecutive wins and are tied at No. 3 with the 1998 champion Houston Comets. The 2014 Phoenix Mercury, which won the title that year, strung together 16 straight wins and the 2001 Los Angeles Sparks own the record with 18 straight and went on to capture the WNBA Championship.

Young (242) tied with Dearica Hamby for 3rd most games played in franchise history.

Tonight marked the first start of rookie Aaliyah Nye’s WNBA career. She finished with 2 points, 2 assists and 1 rebound.

Parker-Tyus, who was activated Monday after giving birth to her first son in July, checked in at 2:23 in the first quarter and scored her first W points in 2025, a Young-assisted layup at 1:28 in the opening frame. It was the first points for Parker-Tyus since she scored 2 points for Atlanta against Seattle on Aug. 16, 2024. She closed the game with 8 points.

Gray now has 254 WNBA career victories and is tied with Taj McWilliams-Franklin for No. 13 on the all-time wins list; Loyd is tied with Tammy Sutton-Brown at No. 45 with 204 career victories.

The Aces were without the services of Kierstan Bell (lower right leg).

UP NEXT: The Aces play their regular season finale on Thursday, Sept. 11, against the Sparks (21-22) — who were eliminated tonight despite an 88-83 win over Phoenix — at Crypto.com Arena. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. PT and air on Vegas 34 and NBA TV. The first game of the 2025 WNBA quarterfinals will be played Sunday, Sept. 14, at Michelob ULTRA Arena. However, the Aces opponent and time slot are still unknowns.

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