Las Vegas, NV—-The Aces have been steadfast in the last few weeks and they are playing with a renewed confidence since their 99-61 loss on August 6th to the New York Liberty. The Aces are clicking and playing great basketball at the right time.
A’ja Wilson scored a career-high 40 points and had 12 boards, Kelsey Plum had 19 points and 10 assists for her first double-double of the season, and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Washington Mystics 113-89 on Friday night.
The Aces’ offense didn’t play well, but Wilson was beast in the first half. She poured in 24 points on 10-of-14 shooting in just 16 minutes, the highest scoring half of her career. Wilson also had seven boards and a steal and was perfect from the free-throw line. The Aces led 57-48 at the break.
“My teammates were finding me at my spots,” Wilson said. “I was just trying to make an impact. It just happened to go in for me.”
Wilson finished 17 of 25 from the field — with no 3-pointers — to reach 40 points. She became only the eighth player in WNBA history to have 40 points and 10 rebounds in a game.
Point guard Natasha Cloud scored 21 points to lead the Mystics, but left the game in the fourth quarter due to injury. Former MVP Elena Delle Donne (ankle), forward Shakira Austin (hip) guard Ariel Atkins (ankle) and guard Kristi Toliver (foot) were unavailable for Washington.
Aces guard Chelsea Gray scored 19 points to go with 10 assists and four made 3s’, and Jackie Young chipped in 17 points for Las Vegas (26-3), including some long threes from downtown after Washington (13-16) tied the game halfway through the third quarter. Gray reached 3,500 career points.
Myisha Hines-Allen had 15 points and Brittney Sykes scored 12.
