A’JA WILSON (29 POINTS), ACES OVERPOWER STORM IN GAME 1
The Las Vegas Aces moved within one win of advancing in the WNBA playoffs and matching league history with their 102-77 romp over the visiting Seattle Storm in Game 1 of their best-of-three series on Sunday night.
The second-seeded Aces wasted little time ensuring the 16-game winning streak they brought into the postseason would reach 17, one shy of matching the 2001 Los Angeles Sparks for the longest such streak in WNBA history.
Former Seattle guard Jewell Loyd came off the bench and scored seven straight points, then A’ja Wilson tacked on four of her game-high 29 points to fuel an 11-0 Las Vegas run midway through the first quarter.
The early spurt was enough to give the Aces a double-digit-point cushion that continued to swell as the night progressed.
Las Vegas bombarded Seattle with 14-of-29 shooting from 3-point range, led by Jackie Young’s 4-of-6 effort. Young finished with 18 points, part of an all-around standout performance that included seven assists and five rebounds.
Loyd added a trio of made 3-pointers on six attempts en route to 14 points, and fellow Aces reserve Dana Evans knocked down another 3-of-6 from beyond the arc on the way to 13 points.
NaLyssa Smith rounded out the double-digit-scoring from Las Vegas with 11 points along with a game-high nine rebounds.
The Storm threatened briefly after the initial Las Vegas onslaught, cutting the deficit to five early in the second quarter on back-to-back Nneka Ogwumike and Erica Wheeler jumpers.
The Aces quickly snuffed out a potential rally, responding with a 9-0 run. Las Vegas’ lead never dipped below 12 the rest of the way.
Gabby Williams led Seattle with 16 points, Skylar Diggins added 12 and Ogwumike finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. Fellow Storm starters Ebi Magbegor and Brittney Sykes struggled to contribute.
Sykes played 15 foul-plagued minutes before fouling out scoreless. Magbegor did not score until the fourth quarter, when Seattle trailed by nearly 30.
The Storm got 10 points off the bench from Wheeler and a 12-point, 11-rebound double-double from rookie Dominique Malonga in her first playoff game.
The series heads to Seattle for Game 2 on Tuesday.
NATASHA CLOUD, LIBERTY TAKE GAME 1 FROM MERCURY IN OT
Natasha Cloud tied a season high with 23 points, Breanna Stewart added 18 and the defending WNBA champion New York Liberty took a 76-69 overtime victory over the host Phoenix Mercury in the first game of their playoff series Sunday.
Cloud hit a 3-pointer to open the scoring in overtime and the Liberty scored the first eight points to take control and gain home-court advantage in the best-of-three series that continues Wednesday in New York.
Sabrina Ionescu had 18 points for the Liberty, who are 12-1 when their projected starting lineup plays this season.
Kahleah Copper had 15 points and Alyssa Thomas had 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Mercury, who could not overcome a 32.5 field goal percentage.
The Liberty, who won one of the four regular-season meetings, have now won four in a row. The Mercury have lost four straight overall as the series shifts east.
Thomas and DeWanna Bonner scored to bring Phoenix within four at 73-69 with 1:16 remaining in overtime, but Leonie Fiebich made a 3-pointer with a minute remaining to push the lead back to seven.
Fiebich had 10 points, and Jonquel Jones had seven points and 12 rebounds.
Stewart appeared to suffer a leg injury when she scored on a driving layup with three minutes remaining in overtime, and she was not on the floor when the game ended.
Phoenix’s top three scorers — Thomas, Satou Sabally and Copper — shot 14 of 48 from the floor. Sabally, the Mercury’s second-leading scorer in the regular season, was 2 of 17 overall and 1 of 10 from 3-point range.
New York had a 48-31 rebounding edge but committed 21 turnovers, tying a season high. Phoenix had 15 points off turnovers.
Phoenix missed its first seven shots in the third quarter before Bonner hit a 3-pointer to close the deficit to 53-51. That was part of an 11-2 run that helped the Mercury to a 57-55 lead after three quarters.
Cloud’s layup gave the Liberty a 63-61 lead with 4:17 remaining, and neither team scored again until Copper made two free throws to tie it at 63-63 with 3:02 left.
Bonner’s reverse layup on a feed from Thomas made it 65-63 with 1:44 remaining, and Stewart countered within a 6-foot jumper to tie it at 1:31.
Thomas missed a driving layup with 0.9 seconds remaining, and Ionescu’s long, contested 3-pointer hit the rim, sending the game into overtime.
ALLISHA GRAY, RHYNE HOWARD HELP DREAM GET LONG-AWAITED PLAYOFF WIN VS. FEVER
Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard scored 20 points apiece on Sunday to lead the Atlanta Dream to an 80-68 victory over the visiting Indiana Dream in the opener of a best-of-three first round playoff series in College Park, Ga.
Naz Hillmon added 16 points and nine rebounds for the third-seeded Dream, who won their first postseason game since 2018. Brionna Jones chipped in 12 points for Atlanta, which can clinch the series on Tuesday in Indianapolis.
Kelsey Mitchell had a game-high 27 points for the sixth-seeded Fever, while Odyssey Sims had 10 in the loss. Lexie Hull scored nine points and Aliyah Boston finished with eight points and 12 rebounds for Indiana, which shot just 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) on 3-point attempts. Atlanta went 7 of 22 (31.8 percent) from distance.
Leading by five after three quarters, the Dream scored the first nine points of the fourth. Jones began the run with a layup, before Howard made a 3-pointer and two technical free throws. Fever head coach Stephanie White and Sims were called for consecutive techs for arguing.
Indiana was held scoreless in the fourth until the 6:34 mark, when Aerial Powers split a pair of free throws to pull the Fever within 13.
Hillmon’s triple and layup put the Dream ahead by 16 with less than two minutes left, icing Atlanta’s win.
Trailing by seven at halftime, Indiana began the second half on a 7-0 run, including Hull’s personal 5-0 spurt, to pull even at 40.
Jones and Gray’s layups were then followed with Howard’s 3-pointer to give Atlanta a 47-40 edge.
Mitchell’s layup cut Indiana’s deficit to three, but Hillmon then scored six straight points as part of an 8-2 Atlanta run. Hull’s layup and Mitchell’s free throws trimmed Atlanta’s lead to 58-53 entering the fourth.
After Indiana jumped out to a 15-6 lead, Atlanta cut its deficit to three entering the second quarter.
Behind 26-22, the Dream went on an 8-2 spurt — capped with Brittney Griner’s layup — midway through the second quarter to grab their first lead since the game’s opening minutes.
Mitchell’s layup knotted the score at 30 with 4:35 left in the first half, before Atlanta finished the first half on a 10-3 run, including Maya Caldwell’s layup to give the Dream a seven-point halftime lead.
