A’ja Wilson had her 12th 30-point game of the year, Jackie Young supplied 23 points and eight assists and the Las Vegas Aces pulled away from the visiting Seattle Storm 98-77 on Sunday night.
The Aces (29-13) won their fifth straight game and remained third in the WNBA standings with two games to go in the regular season. It was a similar scene to their last time on the floor, a 114-77 win Thursday at Seattle.
Sixteen of Wilson’s 30 points came from the free-throw line, and she added eight rebounds while Young stayed white-hot with a 10-for-15 shooting night from the floor. Chelsea Gray had 15 points and Mai Yamamoto, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus and Ta’Niya Latson chipped in eight apiece.
Seattle rookie Flau’jae Johnson scored a career-high 29 points to go with six rebounds, six assists and four steals. Dominique Malonga added 25 points and eight boards for the last-place Storm (8-35), who were outshot 50.8% to 39.4% overall and 45.5% to 29.4% in the second half.
The Aces appeared primed for another one-sided win when they used a 17-2 run to break open a 27-12 lead late in the first period. Yamamoto and Young hit back-to-back 3-pointers during the run as Young racked up 12 points in the quarter.
But Malonga hit a late triple to help Seattle trim its deficit to 29-18 after one quarter, and the visitors proceeded to score the first seven points of the second, capped by Malonga’s bank shot.
The Storm chipped away throughout the second and trailed 45-43 with 1:10 left. Las Vegas answered with the final seven points of the half. Jewell Loyd pilfered the ball and set up Young for a fast-break layup, and Young grabbed a steal on the next possession and returned the favor, assisting Loyd’s 3-pointer for a 52-43 halftime margin.
Seattle hung between six and 11 points throughout the third quarter until Parker-Tyus drilled a 3-pointer with 12.3 seconds left to give Las Vegas a 76-64 lead.
Yamamoto opened the fourth quarter with a three while the Aces continued to clamp down on the Storm. They held Seattle to four points over the first 5:39 of the quarter and earned their first 20-point lead at 88-68 when Young fed Gray for a layup at the 4:52 mark.
Latson played the final three minutes and went 3-for-3 for eight points in that short span.
–Field Level Media
