On the final day of the regular season, the Las Vegas Aces earned the No. 1 seed in the WNBA playoffs with their 109-100 victory over the visiting Seattle Storm on Sunday.
The Aces finished the season 26-10, and regardless of what their chief rivals, the Chicago Sky, do later Sunday afternoon, Las Vegas owns the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Aces won the season series 2-1 when they beat the Sky Thursday night.
The Sky (25-10) complete their regular season Sunday with a game at the Phoenix Mercury, but no matter what happens, they’ll finish No. 2.
The Connecticut Sun (25-11) came close but will settle for the third seed regardless of Chicago’s outcome. They completed their regular season Sunday by beating the visiting Minnesota Lynx 90-83. The Storm, Washington Mystics and Dallas Wings were already locked into the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds.
Also Sunday, the Mercury and the New York Liberty locked up the final two spots in the eight-team bracket, with the order the only piece left to be determined. The Mercury (15-20) clinched a spot before taking the court because of Minnesota’s loss. The Liberty (16-20) defeated the Atlanta Dream 87-83 to punch their dance ticket.
New York, Phoenix, Atlanta, Minnesota and the Los Angeles Sparks were vying for two available playoff berths during the final week of the regular season. Atlanta, Minnesota, Los Angeles and the last-place Indiana Fever missed the playoffs and saw their respective seasons end Sunday.
–Field Level Media
