LAS VEGAS — A’ja Wilson had 26 points and 16 rebounds, Kelsey Plum added 18 points and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Connecticut Sun, 85-74, on Friday night for their seventh win in the last nine meetings between the teams that include the 2022 WNBA Finals.
It was Wilson’s fourth game this season with 25-plus points and 15-plus rebounds — one shy of Tina Charles’s WNBA record of five, set in 2021. Wilson also reached 20-plus points for the 19th straight regular-season game.
Las Vegas (8-6) has won two straight for the first time since May 29. Connecticut (13-2), which was off to its best 14-game start in franchise history, lost for the first time in six road contests this season.
Las Vegas’s double-digit lead was trimmed to 7 points midway through the third quarter, but the Aces closed on a 9-3 run for a 63-50 lead. They opened the fourth on a 7-3 run to make it 70-53.
Alysha Clark added 11 points off the bench for Las Vegas. Kiah Stokes grabbed 10 rebounds to help the Aces dominate the glass, 42-29.
DiJonai Carrington scored 11 of her 19 points in the third quarter and Brionna Jones added 18 for Connecticut. Alyssa Thomas, who was called for her fourth foul with 3:27 left in the third, finished with 6 points and seven assists. DeWanna Bonner, averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game, was held to 6 points on 2-of-10 shooting.
Jones and Tyasha Harris were the only two Connecticut players to score in the first quarter as the Sun trailed, 20-16. Jones scored 11 points in the opening 10 minutes but didn’t score in the second quarter. The Aces extended their lead to 45-28 by halftime.