A'ja Wilson helps lead WNBA-best Aces past Fever for 6th straight victory
Las Vegas star records 24-point double-double in win
A'ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray combined for 49 points and the Las Vegas Aces pulled away late for an 88-80 win over the visiting Indiana Fever on Monday night to sweep the season-series 3-0.
Wilson cleaned up against Indiana for the third time with 24 points and 10 rebounds, plus three steals, three blocks and three assists. She had 28 points when the Aces won 101-88 on Saturday and 27 in an 84-80 win earlier in the month.
Gray, who had eight points in the winning 11-0 run before the Fever made two closing free throws, had 25 points on her bobblehead night. She also had five assists to reach 1,300 for her career.
20+ PTS type of night 🙌<a href="https://twitter.com/cgray209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cgray209</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/_ajawilson22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_ajawilson22</a> went beast mode dropping 20+ PTS in their win versus the Fever <br><br>➡ C. Gray: 25 PTS, 4 REB, 5 AST <br>➡ A. Wilson: 24 PTS, 10 REB, 3 AST <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MoreThanGame?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MoreThanGame</a> <a href="https://t.co/IHc163U7jM">pic.twitter.com/IHc163U7jM</a>
—@WNBAKelsey Plum added 17 points for the Aces (13-1) and Jackie Young, who was named an all-star game starter with Wilson and Gray on Sunday, had 16. Las Vegas has won six straight games.
Aliyah Boston, the sixth rookie named all-star starter, and Erica Wheeler both had 20 for Indiana (5-9), Kelsey Mitchell added 14 and Nalyssa Smith 13. Boston and Smith both had 14 rebounds.
Wheeler's driving layup gave Indiana a 78-77 lead with 2:27 to play but Gray answered quickly with a pair of mid-range jumpers — the 19th lead change to go with 12 ties — to bring the score to 81-78. Plum all but wrapped it up with a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1:06 left and then Gray made four free throws.
Mitchell scored 12 points and the Fever led 23-20 after one quarter. Indiana had 16 points off 11 Las Vegas turnovers but only led 49-48 at the half as Wilson reached 22 points with a buzzer beating layup.
With files from CBC Sports
