A’ja Wilson scored 29 points to lift the visiting Las Vegas Aces to an 89-81 victory over the Seattle Storm on Sunday in Sue Bird’s final regular-season home game.
Wilson made 13 of 24 shots from the floor and added six rebounds to help the Aces (23-10) avert their first three-game losing skid of the season. Las Vegas remained two games behind the first-place Chicago Sky, which posted a 94-91 win over the Connecticut Sun earlier on Sunday.
Kelsey Plum scored nine of her 16 points in the third quarter before effectively sealing the win with a 3-pointer late in the fourth. Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young each scored 15 points in the win.
Breanna Stewart scored a season-high 35 points to eclipse her previous best of 33, set in Seattle’s 89-77 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday. Stewart also had 10 rebounds and Tina Charles added 19 points and nine boards for the Storm (20-13), who have lost five of their last eight games.
Bird, who finished with nine points and six assists, has played her entire 19-year WNBA career with Seattle. A four-time WNBA champion and 13-time All-Star, Bird previously announced that she will retire at the end of the season.
Bird became emotional after being honored prior to the game with video tributes from several players. Mayor Bruce Harrell also declared Sunday as “Sue Bird Day” in Seattle.
A franchise-record 18,100 fans attended Sunday’s game at Climate Pledge Arena. It’s also the largest attendance for a WNBA game this season.
Stewart sank a 3-pointer to trim Las Vegas’ lead to 81-77 with 2:35 to play, but Young answered with a layup at the other end.
Gray, who went over 3,000 points for her career in the second quarter, sank a short jumper to push the advantage to eight before Bird’s layup with 54.5 seconds to play.
Plum ended any thoughts of a comeback by sinking a 3-pointer with 33.7 seconds remaining.
–Field Level Media
