The Las Vegas Aces will set their sights on going two-for-two in their road stint against the Indiana Fever, hoping to ride the momentum of MVP favorite A’ja Wilson to a sweep Friday in Indianapolis.
Wednesday’s matchup between the playoff-bound squads saw two stars have two very different nights. Wilson’s 27 points and 12 rebounds not only led the Aces (23-13) to an 86-75 victory but also put her over the edge to break the WNBA single-season scoring record, previously held by Jewell Loyd.
The accolade may be nice, but Wilson was glad to have it out of the way.
“It feels great because now people will stop talking about it,” Wilson said about the record after the game. “Felt like it was just like lingering, lingering, lingering, so I’m glad that we got it done.”
Wilson will walk into Indiana (19-18) on Friday with 956 points — the previous record was 939.
The other star, Caitlin Clark, fell on the opposite side of the discussion. Her 16 points and 1-for-10 showing from the 3-point line on Wednesday was one of the few lowlights of Clark’s post-Olympics hot streak that has propelled the Fever to win eight of their last 11 games.
Aliyah Boston played short of her standard too, delivering 10 rebounds but just six points, tying her lowest offensive output since July 10 against the Washington Mystics.
The culprit was Las Vegas’ defense, which ranks fifth in defensive rating and first in defensive rebounds as of Thursday. But Indiana head coach Christie Sides will still call on her best offensive players to deliver.
“They are very physical,” Sides said after the game. “But we still took a lot of wide-open shots, they just didn’t fall for us.”
The Aces can close out a four-game season sweep of Indiana with a win Friday.
–Field Level Media