Aces survive third quarter woes, edge Wings with late run

Las Vegas guard Jewell Loyd smiles during the team's home win against Dallas Friday, June 13. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

The Las Vegas Aces picked up one of their biggest early-season wins their most recent outing. And they had to do it without one of the team’s biggest pieces.

Without three-time MVP A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas edged Dallas, 88-84, Friday, June 13 from the Michelob Ultra Arena. The win ended a stretch of back-to-back losses for the Aces.

“Well we won the game,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “Barely. Everybody stepped up, I thought our bench was very impactful tonight. I had gotten on them pretty hard after the last game and they showed up.”

Through four Commissioner Cup games this season, Las Vegas has split its contests. Overall, the team is 5-4 in the early part of a new 44-game schedule.

“We’re eight games in,” Hammon said. “It’s pretty much a whole new group, they’re still learning vocabulary, they’re still learning our system, they’re still learning our defensive concepts.”

One more game remains on the three-game homestand for the Aces. That game will take place Sunday, June 15 from the Michelob Ultra Arena with the Phoenix Mercury in town. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m.

Las Vegas trailed by 11 points with just over three and a half minutes left in regulation before staging its comeback. At one point early in the fourth quarter, a good portion of the fans inside The House began to make their way for the exit.

It was defense that allowed the home team to rally near the end of the game behind keeping Dallas without a field goal for the final four-plus minutes of regulation. Las Vegas used a 15-0 run to get back into the game and cut the once 13-point deficit to just a point.

“Even though LA wasn’t ideal obviously we lost that game,” Hammon said. “But I thought we had some fight down the stretch after a horrendous start to the third quarter. The fight was there again and that’s very encouraging for me. At the end of the day, it’s not a perfect game. You’re going to have to withstand these runs.”

Guard Jewell Loyd nailed a corner three right in front of the Aces’ bench to give the team the lead with under 30 seconds left to play in the fourth quarter. Earlier this season, she cashed in from the same spot to save a win over the Washington Mystics.

Aces guard Jewell Loyd launches a corner three-pointer that served as the eventual game-winner. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

“A lot of it is preparation,” she said. “I feel like this game in particular, we were all very talkative. Through the good, the bad, the third quarter, we were all engaged and there was a belief that we were going to win this game.”

Loyd scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half on her way to 7-of-13 from the field including five made three-pointers. En route to the comeback, she had a fourth-quarter sequence with a steal, two made free throws before drawing a charge the next time on defense.

“A lot of times I feel like defense is what you can really control,” she said. “Your effort like, you have to want to play defense and that’s something that I’ve always wanted to do. I don’t want to be a liability out there.”

Las Vegas guard Chelsea Gray hypes up teammate Jewell Loyd following a drawn charge. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

Needing a comeback at the end came after a big first half in nearly every way for the home team. Las Vegas led by 10 points at one point of the first half on better than 50% from the floor including a 47%-mark from beyond the arc.

Dallas wiped all that away with an 18-0 start coming out of halftime, taking its first lead since the game’s opening quarter.

“Besides the six minutes, seven-minute stretch there in the third quarter,” Hammon said. “I thought it was a really good job by our group.”

The first second-half points for the Aces came more than halfway through the third quarter. At one point, the Wings went up by 13 points in the third quarter behind a +15 frame.

Even with the win, Las Vegas was held to just 39 points in the second half, 10 less than its halftime total. Guard Jackie Young scored 18 of her game-high 28 points in the second half highlighted by 13 in the fourth quarter.

“I thought we were getting downhill and attacking the rim because we needed to,” Hammon said. “Jack’s been doing a great job of just getting downhill, finishing, distributing, getting to the free throw line. She was phenomenal really.”

Fellow guard Chelsea Gray added 13 points, five assists and four rebounds.

Rookie Liz Kitley made her first career start in place of Wilson and compiled two points, three rebounds and an assist by the first media timeout.

“A’ja’s given us basically three MVP years and was healthy,” Hammon said. “Although we always want her out there, I’m okay with her taking a second to reset and get her body right. I don’t want to rush her back at all.”