A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum scored 21 points each to lead a balanced scoring effort and the visiting Las Vegas Aces clinched home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs with an 85-72 victory against the short-handed Seattle Storm on Tuesday night.
Wilson also set the WNBA rebound record for a season, surpassing Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese’s 446 rebounds. Wilson, the front-runner for league MVP, has 451 with one game remaining. Wilson pulled down seven against Seattle. Reese’s season ended Sept. 6, when Reese suffered a wrist injury against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Also Tuesday, Jackie Young scored 16 points, Chelsea Gray scored 13 and Tiffany Hayes had 10 for the Aces (26-13), who clinched no worse than fourth place by winning for the eighth time in nine games.
Las Vegas will finish the regular season at home against the Dallas Wings on Thursday night and could claim third place with a victory and a Connecticut Sun loss to the Chicago Sky.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 19, Skylar Diggins-Smith had 17 points and nine assists and Gabby Williams scored 14 to lead the Storm (24-15), who played without leading scorer Jewell Loyd (knee) and leading rebounder Ezi Magbegor (concussion).
Seattle, whose four-game winning streak ended, will begin the playoffs on the road as the fifth seed. The Storm conclude the regular season at Phoenix on Thursday.
Ogwumike made two field goals and Diggins-Smith had one as the Storm started the third quarter with a 6-0 run to pull within 48-46.
Plum’s 3-pointer ended the Aces’ 4 1/2-minute scoring drought and increased the lead to six points.
Seattle got as close as one point before Young’s three-point play helped Las Vegas take a 63-61 lead at the end of the quarter.
Diggins-Smith’s basket tied the score and, moments later, she made another to give Seattle its only lead, 65-64 early in the fourth. Wilson made two free throws to start an 8-0 run that gave Las Vegas a 72-65 lead.
The Aces maintained control as the Storm scored just 11 points in the fourth quarter.
Wilson scored 10 points as the Aces took a 25-12 lead. They led by 13 points on two more occasions before Diggins-Smith made two free throws to trim the deficit to 29-18 at the end of the first quarter.
A field goal by the Storm’s Mercedes Russell started the second-quarter scoring, but Young scored seven points as Las Vegas expanded the lead to 44-26.
Ogwumike scored seven points during a 14-4 run that pulled Seattle within 48-40 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
