Aces earn first win of season against Sun after dropping opener

Las Vegas players A'ja Wilson (#22) and Jackie Young (#0) acknowledge each other during the team's road win against Connecticut. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

A win Tuesday night erased a 0-1 start to the season for this year’s Las Vegas Aces.

Looking to even their overall record, Las Vegas beat Connecticut, 87-62, Tuesday, May 20 from the Mohegan Sun Arena. The victory comes three days after the team dropped its season opener in New York.

“We played defense,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “That is the separation factor. This team has to hang its hat defensively, that’s the way we get separation. That’s how you build leads and that’s how you maintain leads.

“Frankly the team I saw on Saturday, I hadn’t seen that team before.”

Aces guard Jewell Loyd attempts a shot during her 20-point outing against the Sun. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

Now with a 1-1 record, the Aces will head back to the desert for their home opener. That game is set for Friday, May 23 from the Michelob Ultra Arena against the Washington Mystics. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

“We didn’t even necessarily shoot the ball great,” Hammon said. “Once that ball starts going in and it starts clicking at a high level, I think we’re going to put a really great team on the floor.”

First-year Las Vegas guard Jewell Loyd had another scoreless first quarter to start her tenure in Silver & Black. Once she scored her first points nearly four minutes into the second quarter, the floodgates opened.

Loyd drilled four three-pointers in the second 10-minute session including connecting on three straight possessions as her team began to pull away. She finished with 14 first half points on 5-of-11 from the field and those four threes.

“It’s game two so I’m not going to overthink anything that much,” she said. “I’m just going to concentrate on getting better every single game. My routine has been the same for years, I’m not going to change that for anything really.”

By the final buzzer, Loyd closed her night with 20 points on 50% shooting and six of the team’s 10 made threes. She sported a black facemask after taking a shot to the nose in the team’s loss in the season opener.

“Jewell missed her first couple,” Hammon said. “She didn’t get cooking there until the second [quarter] but we know once the lid comes off for her, it’s going to start raining quick.”

Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson led all scorers with 22 points in another double-double effort with 10 rebounds to boot. She also added four assists, three steals and two blocks.

“She’s a tone-setter, trend-setter, she sets everything up,” Hammon said. “Honestly, she just goes out there and competes. Sometimes I don’t even think she understands what she’s doing out there sometimes, how brilliant [what] she’s doing out there. She’s just being herself.”

Guards Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray added 16 and 12 points respectively in the win for Las Vegas. Hammon played everybody available in the win with no starter playing more than 29-plus minutes. That lone starter in that area was Wilson, who logged minutes in the fourth quarter despite having a 30-plus point lead.

Las Vegas' bench erupts during the team's 25-point road win over Connecticut. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

“We’re down a couple of post players,” Wilson said. “Also, I’ve been sitting on my ass for the last couple of months. I want to play, I want to get out there and I love that I can play with the young group and kind of get their wheels going and see how they play out there.”

Rookie Aaliyah Nye scored her first WNBA points with a fourth-quarter three. With that single basket, she accounted for 33% of the team’s nine points in the final frame.

It was the team’s defense that carried the team to the lopsided win where it led by as many as 35 points. Connecticut didn’t score its first points until almost three and a half minutes into the contest.

“To hold a team for four quarters  – a team that’s really doing some good work,” Hammon said. “In the second half, we didn’t shoot the ball well. Twenty-six percent from the floor in the second half and we still won the second half. Sot that means your defense is really putting in some work on that side of the floor.”

The cold fourth quarter cooled down the Aces’ shooting percentage to 39% but their defense held the Sun to 34% on the other end.

As a result, Las Vegas won the rebounding battle, 41-34, including pulling in 12 offensive boards. Those 12 offensive rebounds turned into 21 second-chance points

Last season, the Aces ranked last in the league in offensive rebounds.