LAS VEGAS — A’ja Wilson scored 24 points and Kayla McBride added 16 as the Las Vegas Aces outlasted the Indiana Fever 88-74 at Mandalay Bay Events Center. It was the first time the Fever played a game in the Aces’ new home.
Carolyn Swords and Tamera Young each posted a game-high 10 rebounds for Las Vegas, accenting a 47-29 Aces rebounding edge that produced 19 second-chance points. Indiana had just four.
The Aces broke open a close game late in the third with six unanswered points and took a 10-point lead on Kayla McBride’s 3-pointer. The margin grew to 13 as the Aces scored four of the first five points to begin the fourth quarter. Wilson scored consecutive buckets as the clock wound under 4:00 to play, staking Las Vegas to a 17-point lead and Kelsey Plum increased the margin to 20 with her second 3-point basket.
Swords added four blocked shots and Plum also had 12 points as Las Vegas, 12-13, cruised the rest of the way to a second straight win and its 12th of the season. Indiana suffered its 22nd defeat in 25 games.
“The MVP of the game, in my mind, was Carolyn Swords,” said Fever coach Pokey Chatman. “When you consider her minutes, her rebounds and her blocks, she was very efficient.”
Ending a back-and-forth first quarter, the Aces scored the last five points of the quarter and the first bucket of the second period for a 7-0 spurt and a 25-18 advantage. After the Fever drew within a pair, the Aces managed another 7-0 run for a 32-23 margin and their largest lead of the half.
Indiana reeled off eight unanswered points late in the half with five from Natalie Achonwa as the Fever regained a brief lead at 37-36. The Aces took a 40-37 lead into the intermission and never trailed again.
“We have to be more stingy on the defensive end,” added Chatman, referring to the Aces’ 88 points, six points higher than their season average. “We have to take things away from people. You get punished when you don’t.”
Achonwa shot 10-of-13 from the floor to lead the Fever with 21 points and seven rebounds, eclipsing 20 points for the third time this season and moving into ninth place in Fever history with 440 career rebounds. Candice Dupree also had seven rebounds and added 13 points to reach double-figure scoring for the fourth straight game.
Victoria Vivians shot 3-of-4 from 3-point range to contribute nine points, all in the first half, for the Fever. Fellow rookie Kelsey Mitchell got all her scoring in the second half, and matched her nine points. The Mitchell-Vivians rookie duo combined on four 3-pointers to become the second rookie tandem in league history, and the first since 1999, to amass more than 100 3-point field goals made.
In a final game before the WNBA All-Star Break, Indiana continues a stretch of seven games in 14 days when the Fever return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Tuesday, to host the first-place Seattle Storm.
Highlights