A’ja Wilson had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Jackie Young added 24 points as the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces kept their season alive with a 95-81 victory over the visiting New York Liberty in Game 3 of their WNBA semifinal series.
Kelsey Plum scored 20 points, Tiffany Hayes had 11 and Chelsea Gray added 10 as the Aces extended their home playoff winning streak to a WNBA-record 12 games. Wilson’s double-double was the 20th of her career in the playoffs.
“It felt like us,” Wilson said. “It was just a matter of time before it all started clicking, but we have to sustain this. This was just one game. This is really nothing. We have to continue to go and grow as we try to go to the next level.”
Game 4 of the best-of-five series will be Sunday in Las Vegas.
Breanna Stewart scored 19 points, while Jonquel Jones added 11 for the Liberty, who lost for the first time in five playoff games this year. Leonie Fiebich had 10 points for New York.
The Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, who averaged 24.5 points over the first four playoff games, was held scoreless through three quarters and finished with four points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said of the Aces, “They came out and played the way that they should play. They were competing, they had urgency, they gave Sabrina very little space. They were active with their hands with deflections, they were physical. We didn’t play very well, but they took us out of our rhythm.”
Wilson played all 20 minutes of the first half
“You can’t sit down in a game like this. This is an elimination game,” she said on ESPN. “I cannot sit down. That looks like giving up. That looks like quitting to me. I knew I had to come in and be who I needed to be for my team out of the gate and made sure we understood what we needed to do at home.”
The Liberty lost to the Aces for the first time in six regular-season and playoff meetings this year.
After the Aces took a 52-49 lead at the break, it was all Las Vegas in the third quarter. The Aces outscored the Liberty 21-6 in the third by going on a 16-0 run to take a 73-53 lead.
Stewart said, “Defensively, we weren’t where we needed to be, and they were playing in so much space. They already hit however many threes in the first half. When they had the space to take even more (3-point attempts), they were confident in that. And obviously playing on your home court is a little bit different and you build confidence behind that.”
New York shot 2-of-14 (14.3 percent) from the floor in the third quarter and made just one 3-pointer in seven attempts.
The Aces opened the fourth quarter on a 5-0 run to push their advantage to 78-55 before Ionescu finally made a free throw with nine minutes remaining. Her lone field goal came on a 3-pointer with 8:08 left.
The Aces won while playing without Kiah Stokes (concussion). Alysha Clark started in her place and wound up with five points and five rebounds in 29 minutes.
–Field Level Media
