Dallas still proves to be too much for Las Vegas

A loss to the Dallas Wings helped spark this most recent win streak by the Las Vegas Aces. However, it was a second loss to the same team that ended the successful stretch.

For the second time in the last two-plus weeks, Las Vegas came up short against Dallas, this time by a final score of 96-66 Monday, June 15. In late May, the Wings won by eight points while also claiming the lone preseason meeting between the two clubs.

“We didn’t have a message yet,” forward NaLyssa Smith said. “We didn’t get a chance to talk. I’m sure the message will be about defense, rebounding the ball and defending the paint.”

Entering play this week, the Aces were the best team in the league record-wise at 10-3 before their six-game win streak was snapped. Additionally, it was just the team’s second road loss of the year in nine showings.

A win Monday night would’ve secured a spot for the team in this year’s Commissioner’s Cup Final. Prior to the loss, Las Vegas was 5-0 in cup games this season.

One more chance to snatch that spot in the title game lies ahead for the Aces as they get ready to take on the Phoenix Mercury Wednesday, June 17 with tip-off slated for 7 p.m.

Though Phoenix is 4-11 this season, it beat the defending champions by 33 points on opening night.

“I give myself 24 hours,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “A win or a loss just to really digest what I need to do better and how I can show up better for my team. After that, we have to lock-in on Phoenix.”

After leading for more than half of the game in the two’s first meeting this season, Las Vegas didn’t hold a single lead Monday night. In fact, the team fell behind by double-digits in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, things got worse in the form of a 17-0 run as the lead grew to 28 points before halftime.

“The frustrating thing is we see when we play [defense], it works,” Wilson said. “We just have to be disciplined in it from top-to-bottom, all over the court.”

Just before halftime, the Aces went on a 9-0 run to close the deficit to 19 points. That would be wiped away by a 12-4 start to the second half by the Wings.

“[There were problems] pretty much everywhere,” Hammon said. “In the paint, pick-and-roll, at the three-point line, midrange. We didn’t defend anything tonight.”

Forward Jessica Shepard posted a historic 20-20-10 triple-double in Dallas’ first win over Las Vegas. In this one, she flirted with another triple-double as she ended the night with 15 points, 15 rebounds and nine assists.

Perhaps the biggest difference in this one was the resurgence of guard Arike Ogunbowale who recorded 22 points in the win. In the first meeting of the year, she had a single point in just 18 minutes of action.

Shepard, Ogunbowale and guard Paige Bueckers combined to hand out 23 assists in the win while the Aces put up 24 assists as a collective in return. In total, the home team made 35 field goals on 30 assists.

“When you give really good teams open looks, they’re going to run up 30 on you,” Wilson said. “We’ve just got to really tune into the defensive end and play out of it.”

Guard Jewell Loyd was on fire from the start for the Aces, scoring 15 points in the first half on a perfect 5-for-5 from three-point range. She’d be cooled down in the second half from deep as she missed all four of her attempts from deep on the way to concluding the night with 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting.

Wilson also had a fast start but an even slower finish. The first-ever four-time MVP scored 11 points in the first quarter but would be held to just seven points the remainder of the night.

WIth Loyd’s 21 and Wilson’s 18, the remaining 27 points were scored by the other seven players that logged minutes.

Fellow starters Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray and Stephanie Talbot combined to score 10 points on 4-for-20 shooting. On the flip side, the trio did account for 17 of the team’s 24 assists in the loss.