The Las Vegas Aces rallied from surrendering 15 straight points over a stretch in the third and fourth quarters to hold off the visiting Dallas Wings 104-91 and claim their seventh straight win on Sunday.
Las Vegas (23-2) matched the 1998 Houston Comets for the best 25-game start to a season in WNBA history.
The Aces jumped ahead 35-20 in the first quarter, then pushed their advantage to as many as 20 points in the second quarter. The lead was 79-61 late in the third period on a pair of free throws by Kelsey Plum.
Over the next 3:38, however, Dallas (14-11) erupted for 15 unanswered points — 11 of which came in just 1:19 to close out the third quarter — and pulled to within three points.
The Aces regrouped when A’ja Wilson, one of three Las Vegas scorers to record at least 22 points, scored four of her 22 to stop the Wings’ run and keep the visitors at bay.
Plum scored seven of her game-high 28 points in the final 3:14, including a pair of free throws down the stretch.
Las Vegas’ shooting at the foul line late inflated the final deficit to 13 points, extending the Aces’ winning streak to seven victories all by at least 12 points, though the fourth quarter proved more competitive than the final tally suggests thanks to the Wings’ run.
Dallas got within seven points with 1:42 remaining when Teaira McCowan laid in two of her team-high 25 points. She led five Wings scorers in double figures, and all five Dallas starters scored at least nine points.
Satou Sabally finished with 19 points, Arike Ogunbowale added 14 and Natasha Howard scored 13 points to go with 11 rebounds. McCowan joined Howard in recording a double-double, grabbing a game-high 14 boards, and shot 11-of-14 from the floor. Kalani Brown had 10 points off the bench.
Chelsea Gray scored 27 points for Las Vegas, including 10-of-11 at the free-throw line. Her miss was the Aces’ only misfire at the charity stripe, as they went 27-of-28 overall.
Gray also dished a game-high eight assists and grabbed five rebounds. Wilson had a team-high seven rebounds, and Plum had six to go with three assists.
Alysha Clark scored 12 points, all of which came on a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range.
–Field Level Media
