Wilson reaches 5K career points as Aces dominate Sun

Las Vegas forward A'ja Wilson signs autographs for fans following a win in a game where she eclipsed the 5,000-point mark. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

Forward A’ja Wilson reached another career milestone in a big home win for the Las Vegas Aces as the team continues to look to right the ship.

The Aces earned a big, 85-59, win over the Connecticut Sun Wednesday, June 25 from the Michelob Ultra Arena in the third game of a four-game homestand. After posting just two wins in the last seven games, Las Vegas has now won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

“I see lots of baby steps in some areas,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “Just offensively, being more organized, being more intentional. Defensively, we’re going to stay on them – I think our pick-and-roll defense can continue to get better.”

Wednesday night’s game was the first of a back-to-back which Las Vegas will finish up on Thursday, June 26. The team will host Washington with a 7 p.m. scheduled tip time and that will conclude the homestand.

Two more back-to-backs remain on this season’s schedule for the Aces. Entering Thursday, the Aces will sport a 7-7 overall record.

Wilson entered Wednesday’s game seven points away from 5,000 in her career. She picked up three first-quarter baskets to put her a single point away from the milestone.

Teammates were active in trying to get the three-time MVP the ball for her milestone moment.

Aces forward A'ja Wilson screams out after a made basket plus the foul inside the Michelob Ultra Arena. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

“We’re better when we try to find each other organically,” Hammon said. “She just garners too much attention to just horse her all the time. Run something, get her into some movement.”

In the second quarter, Wilson would hit the mark on a midrange jumpshot to become the second-youngest player to ever accomplish the feat. Additionally, she became the fastest player to do it, doing so in 238 games while she sits 18th on the all-time scoring list.

“Great milestone for her obviously,” Hammon said. “It’s interesting, she gets all these individual numbers and accolades but I could tell you she’d trade them in a second for winning.”

At halftime, Las Vegas led by 11 points but would face a 7-0 run out of the break by Connecticut. After an early timeout two minutes into the third quarter, the home team responded with a 16-2 run to regain control of the game.

Ultimately, the Aces went up by 22 points in the third quarter on the way to a lead as large as 26 points.

“It didn’t start out great,” Hammon said. “Had to call a timeout quickly. I thought going to a zone got a couple of stops in a row. And we know we’re a lot better when we can run out of our defense.”

Wilson scored 12 of her game-high 22 points on 50% shooting to go along with eight rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

As a team, Las Vegas started the game on a 19-0 run on the offensive end while holding its opponent without a point until the 1:59-mark of the opening frame. By the final buzzer, Connecticut had been held to 2-of-13 from three-point range.

“‘Try-hard teams’ win a lot of games based off that,” Hammon said. “They just try harder than you and I thought our try-hard was good out the gate but I want the try-hard. I want the heart and the hustle for 40 minutes.”

The Aces undid a lot of their early work by going without a field goal for more than five and a half minutes toward the end of the first quarter and the start of the second. During that time, the Sun went on an 11-2 run to trim and eventually trimmed the deficit to seven.

Las Vegas guard Jackie Young makes a "Count it" hand gesture while on the hardwood of the team's home arena. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

“Our offense was trash,” Hammon said. “The turnovers, bad shots, rushed shots, heavily-contested shots. It’s just like an outlet pass going in the other direction.”

Guard Jackie Young was the other 20-point scorer for Las Vegas with 20 points and eight rebounds. She knocked down back-to-back threes after the blistering second-half start by the visitors.

“The one she hit – the grenade her teammate threw [to] her and she had to hit it with like one second left,” Hammon said. “That was a big shot. Not ideal, Jackie was probably pissed she had to shoot that shot. Now she ended up making it but it was a very difficult shot.”

Fellow guards Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd added 15 points and 13 points respectively. Reserve forward Joyner Holmes scored her first points as an Ace in the fourth quarter of the win.