The Las Vegas Aces will aim to rebound from a rare loss when they open a four-game road trip against the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night in College Park, Ga.
The league-leading Aces (28-4) capped a frenzied stretch of five games in nine days with a 78-72 home setback to the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday. Included in that span was an 82-63 loss to the New York Liberty on Tuesday in the championship game of the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup, although that result doesn’t count in the standings.
A’ja Wilson collected 25 points and nine rebounds in Las Vegas’ setback to Los Angeles. The Sparks shot a robust 52.8 percent from the floor (28-of-53), as opposed to just 36.0 percent (27-of-75) for the Aces.
Kelsey Plum made just 4 of 13 shots to score 12 points, while Chelsea Gray sank just 4 of 12 attempts to finish with 10.
“You’ve got to give credit where it’s due,” Wilson said, per the Las Vegas Sun. “We just couldn’t get in the flow of things for whatever reason.”
Wilson certainly made her presence felt to help the Aces defeat the Dream in their three previous meetings this season. The two-time WNBA MVP averaged 20.7 points and 8.3 rebounds in those contests, all Las Vegs victories.
Atlanta (16-16) snapped a three-game skid on Friday due in large part to Cheyenne Parker and Allisha Gray. Parker scored a career-high 29 points and Gray added 20 in a 78-67 victory over the Chicago Sky.
The Dream pulled out the win despite the absences of Rhyne Howard (nose) and Nia Coffey (hand). Howard averages 17.5 points per game, tied with Gray for top honors on the club.
“A good, gutsy win from us. We showed a lot of toughness (Friday), a lot of which has been missing from us all year, but I liked the toughness that we had,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said. “People down, next-man-up mentality. Relied heavily on our two All-Stars and they came through.”
–Field Level Media