Las Vegas can’t complete second straight comeback as Phoenix wins on the road

Las Vegas guard Jackie Young attempts to give instructions to teammates during the team's home loss to Phoenix. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

The third of a three-game homestand ended in a loss for the Las Vegas Aces as the team concluded its homestand under .500.

Suffering their second loss in their first five home games, Las Vegas was beaten by Phoenix, 76-70, Sunday, June 15 from the Michelob Ultra Arena. The team competed in its second straight contest without three-time MVP A’ja Wilson, who is suffering from a concussion.

“We’re missing 25 [points] and 12 [rebounds],” head coach Becky Hammon said. “It’s got to be by committee. I don’t know if we got there by committee today.”

Sunday’s loss also marked the third Commissioner Cup loss for the Aces this season in five tries. Overall, the team is 5-5 on the year; the same identical record through 10 games last season.

“I don’t think we can even look at it through [a 10-game at a time lens],” guard Chelsea Gray said. “We’ve got to look at it one-by-one and then go from there. There’s no way we can look that far ahead. We’ve got things that we need to clean up on both ends of the floor.”

The road doesn’t get any easier for Las Vegas as it will try its luck against the Western Conference’s best team, Minnesota, next. The Aces will travel to do battle with the Lynx Tuesday, June 17 from the Target Center.

That will be a short one game away from the desert as the team will return home Friday, June 20.

Aces guard Jackie Young gets up to block Mercury forward Satou Sabally's shot inside the Michelob Ultra Arena. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

Through the first half, neither Las Vegas nor Phoenix could grab a lead larger than eight. However, just over six and a half minutes into halftime, the home team found itself staring at its largest deficit of the night at 11 points.

Even with a 5-0 run to close the third quarter, the Aces just continued to find themselves behind the eight-ball. Despite the game producing eight ties, Las Vegas’ last lead was 18-16 early in the second quarter.

“Twenty-two turnovers,” Hammon said. “It’s really hard to beat a team – especially a really good team – giving the ball up 22 times. Fourteen assists and 22 turnovers is not the assist-to-turnover ratio you want.”

Phoenix’s Satou Sabally scored 18 of her game-high 22 points in the first half.

“We started going over [on screens],” Hammon said. “Instead of letting her just shoot behind screens, we got a little more physical getting into her. I think there was a little bit of confusion about what we were doing. When we had a small on her, she went down and got some work done in the paint. She’s a tough matchup, she’s a tough matchup for every team right?”

Mercury teammate Alyssa Thomas added 14 points, 13 assists and six rebounds in the win.

Gray led the Aces in scoring with 20 points on 8-of-17 from the field to go along with 10 rebounds and four assists. Despite her heroic efforts, she was forced into five of the team’s 22 turnovers.

“[Opponents are] just throwing bodies whenever we’re attacking into the paint and in transition,” she said. “They were aggressive on the ball screen, they got some deflections. Just gotta be poised and find ways to get people the basketball with better decision-making before I get into that situation.”

Though she didn’t find the scoreboard, forward Kiah Stokes led all players with 14 rebounds including five offensive rebounds.

Las Vegas forward Kiah Stokes gets back on defense during the team's home game against Phoenix. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

“Collectively, we’re just trying to play hard,” guard Jewell Loyd said. “That’s something that we can control in getting extra looks and shots. That’s something that we want and we try to work on daggers as much as we can. That’s what we want on the offensive side, the little things that may not show up in the [box score].”

Loyd added 17 points on 6-of-11 shooting including three made threes. Fellow backcourt teammate Jackie Young was the final player in double-figures with 15 points coupled with a team-high five assists. Ten of her 15 points came in the game’s opening quarter.

Eleven minutes into her 14-minute outing, guard Kierstan Bell provided the Aces with energy minutes on her way to eight points and two rebounds.

“KB came in and did a nice job with her minutes,” Hammon said. “We’ve got to get creative right now.”

Veteran Tiffany Mitchell made her first start of the season in place of the aforementioned Wilson, who missed her second straight game in concussion protocol. In addition, forward Joyner Holmes played her first minutes in an Aces uniform.

Rookie guard Aaliyah Nye briefly left the game in the fourth quarter following an elbow to the face. She’d leave the bench area to head to the locker room before returning to the floor for the closing minutes of the game.

“I think it’s something that people really have to start looking at,” Hammon said. “People are dropping like flies with concussions and it’s not just our team.”