Aces' Plum, Wilson combine for 48 points in rout of Sun in matchup of WNBA's top teams

Kelsey Plum scored 25 points and A'ja Wilson added 23 points and 12 rebounds to help the Las Vegas Aces rout the Connecticut Sun 102-84 on Saturday in a matchup of the top teams in the WNBA.

It was the eighth straight victory for the Aces (15-1), who avenged their only loss of the season. Connecticut (12-5) was able to win that game because of a career-high and franchise-record 41 points by DeWanna Bonner. Las Vegas hasn't lost since thanks in big part to the play of Wilson, the league's reigning MVP.

She had another strong game one day after signing a two-year contract extension.

Just as they did against New York two days earlier, the Aces blew open the game at the start of the third quarter. Las Vegas scored the first 17 points of the period to turn a 11-point advantage to 76-48.

The Sun finally ended the run with DiJonai Carrington's 3-pointer with 4:31 left in the third quarter. Things got worse for Connecticut a minute later when Tiffany Hayes was ejected by official Clare Aubry when the Sun guard made money signs after she was called for a foul.

"They said something about doing a money sign or something. I don't know," Connecticut coach Stephanie White said. "We were not told that anything like this was an automatic ejection."

Hayes declined to comment on the play after the game.

Connecticut never recovered from the spurt.

Alyssa Thomas, who had a triple-double in each of their previous two games and became the career leader in the stat with five now in the regular season, had 12 points, 11 assists and five rebounds for the Sun.

Plum, who was the MVP of last year's All-Star Game also was picked as a reserve. She helped Las Vegas get out a strong start again with 10 points in the first quarter.

The coaches Saturday will be back in two weeks coaching in the All-Star Game on July 15. Becky Hammon will be coaching the game for the second consecutive year, leading Wilson's team. White will be coaching in the game for the first time when she leads Breanna Stewart's squad.

Lynx beat Mercury for 3rd consecutive win

Diamond Miller battled foul trouble but finished with 25 points and five steals — both career highs — and Napheesa Collier added 16 points and nine rebounds to help Minnesota beat the Phoenix Mercury 86-76 Saturday night for the Lynx's third win in a row.

Rachel Banham scored a season-high 13 points in just 15 minutes for Minnesota. Her teammate Bridget Carleton of Chatham, Ont., scored six points and added one assist and two rebounds in 15 minutes of game time.

Six different Lynx players scored in a 13-2 run that gave the Lynx a 76-63 lead with five minutes to play and Phoenix trailed by at least eight points the rest of the way.

Brittney Griner led Phoenix with 23 points, 15 in the first half, and Moriah Jefferson scored 14 with a season-high seven assists. Michaela Onyenwere, who fouled out early in the fourth quarter, and Sug Sutton added 10 points apiece and Brianna Turner grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds.

Minnesota (7-9) — which started the season with six consecutive losses — was coming off back-to-back wins over the Seattle Storm, the latter of which came when Collier made a short fadeaway jumper that gave the Lynx a 99-97 lead with 1.8 seconds left in overtime.

Miller, the No. 2 overall selection in April's draft out of Maryland, picked up her third personal when she fouled Moriah Jefferson, who hit the short jumper and made the and-1 free throw that trimmed the Mercury's deficit to 34-31 with 3:43 left in the first half.

Phoenix, which went into the game averaging a league-high 17.5 turnovers per game (no other team averages more than 16.0) committed 14 — which led to 15 Lynx points — in the first half and went into the break trailing 46-37. The Mercury finished with a season-high 22 turnovers, including 13 Minnesota steals.

Phoenix (3-12) has lost 12 of its first 15 games for the second time in franchise history, the first since 2003.

The Merucry lost six games in a row, and nine out of 10, before an 85-63 win over the Indiana Fever on Thursday in Nikki Blue's second game as the interim head coach. Blue replaced to Vanessa Nygaard, who was fired Sunday, one day after a 97-74 road loss to the Seattle Storm, which dropped Phoenix to 2-12, matching the worst 12-game start to a season in franchise history. The Mercury lost 77-62 at home to the Dallas Wings on Tuesday in Blue's debut.