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It was a night full of milestone setting moments as the Las Vegas Aces downed the Atlanta Dream, 118-95, Sunday, July 4 from the Michelob Ultra Arena.
The team set a new franchise scoring mark with 118 points, setting a season-high 31 assists in the process.
It was the fifth time scoring at least 100-points this season for the Aces.
“Yeah, we scored a lot of points but we gave up a lot of points,” head coach Bill Laimbeer said. “I’m a little disappointed in my defense tonight but in a game like this, we’re outscoring them so I guess keep that trend going.”
Las Vegas used a big second half surge to put away a scrappy Atlanta team.
After leading by only three at halftime, the Aces used a 33-27 third quarter to build a lead as large as 12.
A lead that would eventually grow to 25 in the final quarter.
The scoring output was a far cry from the team’s 66-58 win over the Los Angeles Sparks last time out.
It will be another home game for Las Vegas as it will host the Phoenix Mercury Wednesday, July 7 from the Michelob Ultra Arena.
The Aces are 8-1 at home this season.
“Right now, we’re focused on the next game at hand which is Phoenix on Wednesday,” Laimbeer said. “And that’s an important one for us, for the standings, for all of the above.”
As a team, Las Vegas shot 60 percent from the field against Atlanta.
Six Aces players scored in double-figures led by guard Kelsey Plum, who scored 23 points to go along with eight assists off-the-bench.
Plum surpassed the 1,000-point threshold for her career.
“This team is just so deep,” she said. “On any given night, anything can happen. It’s one of the luxuries of having a team that has multiple people that can be threats from different places on the court.”
Plum is now the 14th player in franchise history to reach the plateau. “Well, that’s who we are,” Laimbeer said. “Both [forward Dearica Hamby and Plum] could be starters on other teams but on our team they’re bench players and they accept their roles. It takes special people to do that.”
Reigning MVP, A’ja Wilson, scored 19 points and hauled in nine rebounds.
She has now scored in double-digits in 48 straight games.
Fellow backcourt mate Liz Cambage recorded 17 points to go along with 10 rebounds in her 17 minutes of action.
Multiple times throughout the game, Cambage could be seen getting into verbal spats with referees over foul calls or non-calls.
Tempers boiled over when Cambage was assessed a technical foul in the third quarter.
Despite her issues with the officiating, Cambage’s +19-mark was the second-highest in the game.
Second to a +23-mark set by guard Jackie Young.