A’ja Wilson scored 22 points and became the fastest WNBA player with 5,000 career points as the Las Vegas Aces used a red-hot start to earn a 85-59 victory over the visiting Connecticut Sun on Wednesday.
Jackie Young scored 20 points, Chelsea Gray had 15 and Jewell Lloyd added 13 as the Aces (7-7) scored the first 19 points of the game and went on to win for the second consecutive time following a season-long three-game losing streak. Wilson and Young added eight rebounds apiece.
Wilson, the 28th WNBA player to score 5,000 points, achieved the milestone in her 238th game on a driving left-handed layup with 4:04 remaining in the first half. Breanna Stewart had been the fastest to 5,000, doing so in 242 games.
Wilson is also the fastest and youngest player, at age 28, to reach 5,000 points with 2,000 rebounds, 500 assists, 400 blocked shots and 200 steals.
Tina Charles scored 18 points and Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 12 as the Sun (2-13) saw their losing streak reach a season-long seven games. Rookie Saniya Rivers scored 10 points for Connecticut.
The Aces are now 2-0 against the Sun in the teams’ four-game season series.
Las Vegas roared out to a 19-0 lead with 2:19 remaining in the first quarter, with Wilson scoring six points in the stretch. Connecticut was 0 of 11 from the floor to open the game and had five turnovers in the opening five minutes.
The Aces led 21-6 after one quarter before the Sun had a 23-19 advantage in the second quarter to pull within 40-29 at halftime. Connecticut shot 18.8 percent from the floor in the first quarter and 28.1 percent before halftime.
A 7-0 run over the first two minutes of the second half pulled the Sun within 40-36 before the Aces stepped on the gas again. Las Vegas went on a 20-4 run to take a 60-40 lead with 3:26 remaining in the third quarter following a running jumper from Wilson.
Las Vegas shot 42.9 percent from the floor in the game, while holding Connecticut to 32.4 percent.
–Field Level Media
