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Las Vegas thumped its way to its third straight win after picking up a road victory in the team’s latest outing.
The Aces got the better of the Chicago Sky Thursday night, 95-83, from Wintrust Arena in Illinois. After going .500 through the first 12 games of the season, the back-to-back defending champions are now 9-6 on the year.
“It’s better than losing like I said,” head coach Becky Hammon said.
This season, Las Vegas is 3-2 against the Eastern Conference after starting off this short East Coast road trip on the right foot. Both games on this road trip will feature teams with a combined win-loss record of 10-32 at this point of the year.
The last-place Washington Mystics will conclude the road trip for the Aces when the two meet for a Saturday afternoon matinee that’s set for 11 a.m.
“We’re getting into our flow,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “We’re getting into a flow where we’re comfortable and really running our system. But I think the biggest thing is we’re really starting to lock down on the defensive end and on our assignments.”
Hoping to round into form on the defensive end, Las Vegas pulled away in this one through its stifling defense that allowed for some lopsided scoring runs. Chicago was held to just six points for more than half of the second quarter as part of a 14-2 run for the visitors.
At one point, the Sky were held without a point for more than five minutes.
To close the third quarter, the Aces went on an 8-3 run while holding their opponent to just one field goal over the final 3:49 of the frame. That push came after the Sky made a run to tie the game at 46 apiece.
“After having a really great second quarter, we didn’t have much carry over,” Hammon said. “You’ve got to go back to the things that got you the lead and understand what those things are.”
Chicago guard Marina Mabrey erupted for 10 points in the first four minutes and fifty-four seconds of the game. She’d be limited to just 11 points over the next 31 minutes by the Las Vegas defense.
“I thought Marina Mabrey coming out the gates hurt us,” Hammon said. “I think she had 13 in the first quarter and nine the rest of the game.”
Thursday night marked the first professional meeting between Wilson and rookie Angel Reese. Both would extend respective records in this much-anticipated matchup.
Wilson started fast to the tune of 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the first quarter while Reese picked up two early fouls.
“We let her get away in some cases,” Wilson said. “She’s too good in that area for us to let her get out [...] We’ve got some growths that we can learn when it comes to guarding her and defending her but obviously she held her own.”
Running her consecutive 20-plus point outing streak to 20 games, Wilson posted 31 points to go along with two steals and two blocks. Reese recorded a ninth straight double-double, which is a league record for a rookie, with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Both Las Vegas and Chicago tallied 40 points in the paint apiece as the home team edged out the rebound advantage by three.
“I thought overall, a really good performance considering how they attack the paint,” Hammon said. “You are just on your toes the whole time when they’re trying to get in that paint.”
Guard Jackie Young scored all her points in the middle quarters beginning with eight points in the second quarter. She’d one-up her performance with 12 third quarter-points for a 20-point finish on 7-of-13 from the field.
Backcourt teammate Kelsey Plum scored 16 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter to help the Aces build their largest lead of the game, 17 points.She added five rebounds and five assists to her stat line.
Three-time champion Chelsea Gray made her first start of the season in her third outing of the year as she returns from injury. She drilled her first shot attempt of the night on the way to eight points, six rebounds and five assists in 27 minutes on the floor.
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