The Aces opened up Commissioner Cup play with a 95-81 win on the road against the Dallas Wings. With the win the Aces improve to 5-2 and the Dallas Wings fall to 3-5 on the season.
Commissioner's Cup W! ✔️#ALLINLV pic.twitter.com/cXP7EdEHkx
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) June 6, 2024
Aces get off to good start
The Aces started the first quarter on a high note, shooting 12-19 from the field (68%) and taking an early 29-16 lead. Dallas went 4-17 from the field and 1-6 from three in the opening quarter.
A’ja Wilson lead the scoring 14 of her 36 points in the first quarter. Tiffany Hayes also got in on the action making her Aces debut scoring a 4 points in the first quarter.
FIRST BUCKET AS AN ACE! ♦️♠️@tiphayes3 // #ALLINLV pic.twitter.com/GpqDlRR8w8
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) June 6, 2024
After leading by as many as twenty early in the second quarter, Las Vegas led by only five points at halftime, 47-42. This was due to the Wings closing the half on a 23-8 run to cut into the deficit.
In the second half, the Aces picked up where they left off in the first quarter, leading by as many as 14 in the third quarter and 19 in the fourth. One of the most important things coming into this game was winning the battle in the paint because Dallas is a team that likes to score a lot of their points there. The Aces outscored the Wings 44-34 in the paint, but the Wings extra opportunities kept them in the game at times, outscoring the Aces 26-11 in second chance points.
The battle between two of the leagues best scorers lived up to the hype with A’ja Wilson leading the way for the Aces with 36 points, 12 rebounds and 6 steals. Wilson became the first player WNBA history to record 35 points, 10 rebounds and 5 steals in a game.
???????????? ???????????????? ????@_ajawilson22 now leads the @WNBA in points per game AND rebounds per game ????#ALLINLV pic.twitter.com/9M6z3cVRRm
— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) June 6, 2024
Arike Ogunbowale, the other scoring leader coming into this game, scored 31 points of her own. The Aces made her work for every point, finishing the game 9-23 from the field and 3-9 from three.
Tiffany Hayes who was making her Aces debut played a good all around game finishing with 11 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assist. Jackie Young who came into the game under the weather finished the game 19 points, 7 assist and 6 rebounds.
Kelsey Plum scored 20 points, including two three-pointers and a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line. Alysha Clark scored 9 points, including two threes.
The Aces will return to the Michelob Ultra Arena on Friday to face the new-look Seattle Storm, with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
