Aces’ pair of Wilson, Young powers Las Vegas to first home win

Las Vegas guards Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young chest bump at halfcourt during the team's home win over Golden State. Photo Credit: Adan Castillo/Talk that Talk

It was too much from forward A’ja Wilson early then it was too much from guard Jackie Young late as Las Vegas put together a second consecutive victory.

On the way to collecting the team’s first home victory in three tries, Las Vegas beat Golden State, 84-79, Saturday, June 6 from Michelob Ultra Arena. While entering the third best team in the league standings, the Aces picked up their second victory over the Valkyries in the last week.

“I think we closed better,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “We started out that fourth quarter giving up a couple of threes and that sent me over the moon and back. But we closed, we started defending a little bit better.”

With the win, Las Vegas is now 2-0 in Commissioner Cup games this season while improving to 7-3 overall. As a result, Saturday was the first of back-to-back home games for the Aces with Monday serving as the conclusion of the homestand.

The Aces will host the Seattle Storm Monday, June 8 from Michelob Ultra Arena with tip-off set for 7 p.m.

“We always want to win,” Hammon said. “I don’t care if it's the Commissioner's Cup, whatever. We want to win the next game and the next game and the next game. Which happened to be all Commissioner’s Cup games so. The fact that there’s a little money on the table for the girls, I love that.”

Young scored 22 of her 27 points in the second half despite going down after rolling her ankle in the third quarter. She’d stay down for a little bit before returning to her feet and walking to the bench under her own power.

“Just playing through it,” she said. “It happens. Just tape it up, tie the shoe [and] keep it going.”

Not only did Young return to action, she came back with the same offensive presence. She drilled back-to-back threes in the fourth quarter to cross over into 20-point territory.

“Just going out and being aggressive,” she said. “Making the right reads but the biggest thing for me is staying aggressive and being patient. My teammates are going to get me the ball, making the right play and the ball was going in.”

Ultimately, Young knocked down six threes as part of her 8-for-15 shooting night on her way to 27 points. She has scored 15 or more points in the last four games including scoring over 20 points twice, both times against Golden State.

Aces guards Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young celebrate a made three-pointer by the latter during a Commissioner's Cup game against the Valkyries. Photo Credit: Adan Castillo/Talk that Talk

“There’s a lot of talk whenever [struggles] like that happen,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I’m human and we go through stuff. I don’t think it was necessarily a basketball thing, I put in the work – I’ve always put in the work.”

Las Vegas got off to a fast start and it was mainly because of its defense. It held Golden State to 6-of-20 from the field in the first quarter which included a 1-for-9 mark from deep.

Over the last two games, Hammon’s club has held opponents to a combined 17-for-58 from three-point range. This comes after giving up 16 made threes to the Valkyries a week ago.

“I feel like we hammer down things that we feel like for specific games,” Hammon said. “So we knew closing out and not closing out short – they’re going to make some tough ones but don’t give them easy ones. Don’t give them the ones that are just clean catch-and-shoots, they’ll just punish you in those ways.”

After going up by double-digits, Las Vegas was met with a 6-0 run by its opponent. Golden State closed the first half on a 14-5 run as the home team took a three-point lead into the halftime break.

Out of the locker room, the Valkyries extended that run to 19-7 to tie the game at 40 apiece. For a brief moment in the fourth quarter, the visitors grabbed the lead on another fast start to the frame; this time it was a 5-0 spurt to open the quarter.

“I didn’t think we particularly closed in Golden State,” Hammon said. “In Golden State, we just had a bigger lead. You find ways to win, that’s another skillset of a great team, you find ways to win.”

Las Vegas forward A'ja Wilson shoots a turnaround jumper over former teammate Kiah Stokes inside Michelob Ultra Arena. Photo Credit: Adan Castillo/Talk that Talk

Wilson led all scorers with 28 points following a fast start to the contest. She rattled off 14 first quarter points on 5-of-7 shooting as part of the team’s 54% shooting performance in the first 10 minutes.

In the second quarter, Wilson hit the 20-point mark with back-to-back made three-pointers. She’d be held to just two makes on five tries in the second half on her way to her final stat line of 28 points on 9-of-17 from the floor to go along with a game-high 14 rebounds.

“I think Golden State was very committed to taking her away,” Hammon said. “They bring two and three bodies and we were just playing the right way. We’ve got to find her on the second and third side, maybe not on that initial action because they are loaded up.”

Guard Chelsea Gray added 12 points coupled with six rebounds, six assists and two steals.