A'ja Wilson powers Aces over Wings with near triple-double
A'ja Wilson stuffed the stat sheet with 22 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists Sunday as the Las Vegas Aces entered the WNBA's month-long Olympic break with a 95-79 win over the Dallas Wings in Arlington, Texas.
Dearica Hamby and Kelsey Plum came off the bench to supply 22 and 16 points, respectively, as Las Vegas upped its record to 15-6. Jackie Young scored 17 points on just eight field goal attempts, symbolizing the efficiency the Aces exhibited. Las Vegas canned 50.7 percent of its shots and tallied 25 assists on 34 made buckets.
Six players scored in double figures for Dallas, but it wasn't enough to keep the Wings from falling to 9-12 with their third straight loss. Moriah Jefferson and Allisha Gray each led the way with 14 points, while Charli Collier scored 13.
Bella Alarie came off the bench to net 11 points, while Kayla Thornton and Arike Ogunbowale each added 10. Ogunbowale hit a late 3-pointer to extend her streak of double-figure scoring games to 58.
The Wings converted only 33.7 percent of their field goal attempts and were outrebounded 43-40.
Las Vegas entered the game with consecutive losses and opened the first quarter as though it was headed for another one. The Aces' high-powered offense managed just six points in the game's first 5:34 and Dallas took a 20-15 lead to the second period.
At that point, Las Vegas finally resembled a championship contender. Wilson converted a layup with 3:51 left in the half to give the Aces their first lead of the day at 34-32 and they rolled from there, going to halftime with a 48-42 advantage.
Las Vegas pulled away in the third quarter, taking its first double-figure lead when Chelsea Gray drove the lane for a finger roll to make it 62-51. Wilson rattled off six straight points in a 51-second span later to help the Aces establish a 76-59 lead going to the fourth stanza.
--Field Level Media
