Las Vegas starts flat again, lose final outing before Olympic break

Las Vegas guard Tiffany Hayes blows out of the corner during the team's Tuesday night loss to Chicago. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

In one final showing ahead of the Olympic break, the Las Vegas Aces suffered another home loss.

Las Vegas lost to Chicago, 93-85, Tuesday, July 16 from the Michelob Ultra Arena to end the team’s four-game win streak. Moreover, it ties the season series at one apiece with two more games to play this season.

“Teams are just coming in and they want to punch us in the mouth,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “They’re coming out with the first punch so we have to understand that’s coming. I think sometimes we get caught off-guard.”

The two-time defending champions are now 8-5 at home this season. Over the last two seasons combined, the franchise tallied just six home losses.

“We’re a little more selfish at home,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “Our friends and family are there, everybody wants to be the ‘It’ girl. The first quarter especially and I can name certain instances down the road where we had one pass or no passes.

“Chucking up shots because everybody wants to be the one to get us back.”

Overall, Las Vegas is 16-8 as it prepares to head into the All-Star/Olympic break. As it presently stands, the team is locked in a tie with Minnesota for the fourth spot in the WNBA. Both teams are looking up at New York (21-4), Connecticut (18-6) and Seattle (17-8).

The midseason break elapses four weeks as the Aces will not be seen again as a collective until mid-August. When it does reconvene, it will be set to match up with the league-leading Liberty.

That rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals will take place Saturday, Aug. 17 with tip-off scheduled for 1 p.m.

“Our mindset has been missing most of the year if I’m being honest,” Hammon said. “From training camp. We started to hit our stride a little bit. Strung some games together that we can feel good about – even if we had won this game, we still feel like there’s a lot of things we can get better at.”

Aces guard Kelsey Plum pushes the break inside the Michelob Ultra Arena. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

After falling behind by 15 points in the last outing on the road against Washington, Las Vegas dug itself into a deeper hole Tuesday night. The deficit was as large as 16 points in the team’s most recent loss.

“At no point in that game did we deserve to win,” Hammon said. “I called the timeout after a minute and 10 [seconds] into the game. You could just feel they weren’t in the gym. Well, they weren’t in the same gym I was in.”

Guard Chennedy Carter put up 14 points on a near perfect 5-of-6 from the field in the first quarter. She’d eventually start the game 9-for-11 before missing six of her next seven attempts from the floor.

At one point in the fourth quarter, Carter scored eight straight points on her way to 10 points in the final 3:23 of the game. She finished with 34 points on 14-for-24 shooting and three steals in 30 minutes of action.

Las Vegas made a 16-0 run in the second quarter to trim the once 16-point first quarter deficit to five just before halftime. At one point in the third quarter, it would be cut to four points but another solid Sky stretch pushed it back to double-digits before taking a six-point lead into the quarter break.

“I just think we were trying to make hero plays,” guard Tiffany Hayes said. “We didn’t do the simple things right. You can’t try to do those hero plays and as they pile onto each other that’s when all the turnovers come.”

Wilson met fellow Southeastern Conference products Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese for the first time in Vegas as professionals. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year would account for five blocks against the rookie tandem.

Las Vegas forward A'ja Wilson goes up for two points against Chicago in the second meeting of the year between the two clubs. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

For the sixth straight game, Wilson recorded a double-double with 28 points and 14 rebounds in this one. Reese added a double-double of her own while combining for 19 points and 18 rebounds.

Chicago outscored Las Vegas, 50-36, in the paint while winning the rebounding battle +9.

Hayes set a new season-high with 19 points on a red-hot 8-for-10 shooting off-the-bench. She was a part of a fourth quarter run by the bench that catapulted the Aces back into the game.

Backup forward Megan Gustafson cashed a three-pointer to give the home team its first lead of the game with 8:16 left in regulation. Hayes would hit another one later to tie the game at 77 apiece.

Nobody’s minutes were more crucial than fan-favorite Sydney Colson’s. After entering the game at the 3:24-mark of the third quarter, Las Vegas went on a +5 run.

Additionally, Colson was at the core of forcing three straight Chicago turnovers to start the fourth quarter.

“Our bench has always been picking up slack that we as the starting five have been putting out there,” Wilson said. “I think we needed this to kind of wake us up a little bit and tell us that we have a lot more work to do.”

Guard Jackie Young added 17 points on 6-of-11 from the field. Fellow backcourt mate Kelsey Plum struggled to the tune of 4-of-17 from the floor including an 0-for-8 mark from deep.

Rookie Kate Martin left the game in the first quarter, favoring her lower left leg and would not return to the game.

“I know she’s freaking tough,” Hammon said. “So I don’t know how bad it is but she’s a tough cookie. For her to not come back, I’m hoping for the best.”