Wilson scores 26 as Aces down Mystics, 85-73

Forward A’ja Wilson scored 26 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead the Las Vegas Aces to an 85-73 victory over the shorthanded Washington Mystics on Friday night at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

It was the first Las Vegas win in franchise history for the team that relocated after the 2017 season from San Antonio. Forward Dearica Hamby had 14 points in 12 minutes off the bench while guard Nia Coffey (11), forward Kayla McBride (11) and center Kelsey Bone (10) also scored in double figures for the Aces (1-4).

The 6-foot-4 Wilson, the first pick of the 2018 WNBA Draft who was a three-time All-American and Wooden Award winner at South Carolina, was 6-of-15 from the floor but connected on 14 of 18 free throws. She also blocked three shots.

Forward Monique Currie scored 24 points while Tianna Hawkins added 11 points and Ariel Atkins had 10 points for the Mystics (5-2), who finished their three-game West Coast road trip with a 1-2 record. Washington once again played without star forward Elena Delle Donne, the 2015 WNBA MVP, who missed her third straight game because of illness while guard Natasha Cloud also remained sidelined battling kidney stones.

Las Vegas, coming off an ugly 101-74 loss at Seattle on Thursday night that saw the Storm set a WNBA record with 17 3-pointers, used an 11-2 run highlighted by six points from Wilson to take a 25-17 first quarter lead, outrebounding the Mystics 11-5 and holding Washington to just 33.3 shooting.

The Aces extended their lead to 13 points, 30-17, on a layup by Bone early in the second quarter, but Washington, behind nine points from Currie, chipped away at the lead and went into halftime trailing 46-37.

Wilson gave Las Vegas its largest lead of the game, 61-45, with a free throw with 3:28 left in the third quarter. But Washington answered with a 16-4 run capped by a driving layup by Myisha Hines-Allen to close to 65-61 with 8:04 to go. The Aces then put the game away with a 19-10 run over the next seven minutes.

Washington shot just 40.0 percent from the floor, including 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from 3-point range. Las Vegas finished with a 38-29 edge on the boards.

–Field Level Media