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Three-game win streak ended in second loss of season to Indiana
- Terrel Emerson
- Jul 25
- 3 min read
A second straight loss to end the season series with the Indiana Fever ended a season-long three-game win streak for the Las Vegas Aces.
After losing 16 straight to Las Vegas, Indiana earned a 27-point win in the last meeting between the clubs before adding a 10-point win in this one. The Fever beat the Aces, 80-70, from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse Thursday, July 24.
Prior to the tilt, a half game separated the Aces in the sixth spot from the seventh slotted Fever.
“It was unfortunate,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “We definitely gave that one away. We’ve got to move on quickly because we’ve got another one tomorrow.”
With the loss, Las Vegas falls back to .500 with an overall record of 12-12. In addition, the team just kicked off a four-game road trip that will see the team head to Minnesota next for the second of a back-to-back.
The team will travel up north for its date with the Lynx as the game is scheduled for Friday, July 25. Tip-off is set for 4:30 p.m.
“There’s been different points of the season where I felt I needed to be hard on them,” Hammon said. “There’s other points in the season – this same season – where I felt like I didn’t want to critique, I just wanted to love on them. I felt like sometimes they just need to be encouraged and loved on.”
Indiana used a +16 second half to overcome a halftime deficit and take a rare season series away from Las Vegas. The second half collapse is something that has been a topic of discussion of several points this season for the former back-to-back league champs.
“They got aggressive in the second half,” guard Jackie Young said. “We were on our heels a little bit, we turned the ball over and didn’t turn them over. Also a lot of second chance points. Yeah, we just weren’t doing the basics.”
The Aces faced a nine-point hole before going on a quick 4-0 run in 30 seconds to trim the deficit to five with just over a minute and a half left. A dagger was inserted in the final seconds by Fever guard Aari McDonald in the form of a stepback three to put the home team up eight with 33.1 seconds left in regulation.
Ultimately, Las Vegas would fall behind by as many as 10 points before the final buzzer. Indiana’s big second half was weighted by a brilliant start and finish to the third quarter. It began with a 10-4 start and ended with an 8-0 spurt.
At one point, Hammon made a three-person swap subbing in her bench for several starters.
“They were on pace to score about 30 points,” Hammon said. “So I wasn’t happy with the defense. So it was a little attention grab. I think they scored six points for the rest of the quarter so that was the goal, to just buckle down defensively and I thought the second unit did that for us.”
Before the eventual finish, the Aces used a big run of its own early in the second quarter to take control of the contest. After ending the first quarter on a 6-0 run, the visitors pushed that to 14-0 to open the second. During that time, the Fever were without a point for about seven minutes of the 10-minute session.
Forward A'ja Wilson led her team with 20 points on 7-of-17 from the field to go along with six rebounds as she continues to nurse a right wrist sprain. Young was right behind with 19 points on a very efficient 8-for-14 shooting while also dealing with lingering hip injury.
“Yeah [I was feeling pain],” Young said. “But at the end of the day, it’s a long season so we’re going to be banged up. We’re obviously banged up right now but we can’t use that as an excuse.”
Mid-season acquisition NaLyssa Smith recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.