The WNBA’s hottest team will put a season-best eight-game winning streak on the line when the Las Vegas Aces play host to the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday.
The run of success — with less than a month remaining in the regular season — has moved the Aces (22-14) within percentage points of the Mercury (21-13) for fourth place in the league standings.
A victory would give the Aces the season series over the Mercury after winning two of the previous three games, including an 86-83 victory Friday in Phoenix.
Las Vegas nearly saw its streak come to an end while trailing 67-57 with 8:44 remaining Tuesday at home against the Atlanta Dream. But a 13-0 run put the Aces on top with 4:09 remaining and they never trailed again in a 74-72 victory.
“We know we have the ability to lock in and when we’re locked in, we’re a different team,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said after Las Vegas held Atlanta to five points over the final 8:44. “When we play defense like that, we become really hard to beat.”
Reigning MVP A’ja Wilson was dominant again with 32 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks. It was her third career 30-10-5 game — most in league history — and her 116th career double-double moved her into fifth on that all-time list.
In addition to reaching 20 wins for the first time since 2018, the Mercury are closing in on their first winning regular season since 2021. Since losing at home against Las Vegas last week, they have won at Seattle and Golden State as they look to complete a 3-0 road trip.
In Tuesday’s 98-91 victory over the Valkyries, Kahleah Copper scored 25 points and Satou Sabally added 17. Phoenix shot 61.1 percent from the floor in a 30-point fourth quarter.
After the Mercury’s defense allowed the Valkyries to score 59 points in the first half on 51.3 percent shooting, they held their opponent to 32 points in the second half on 31.6 percent shooting.
“We’re doing a good job of building on the things we want to correct,” Copper said. “Right before the Seattle game (Sunday), we talked about getting great shots, good to great. We talked about guarding. Coming in (against the Valkyries), it was building on that. We struggled early and talked about that, so that’s something to work on (against the Aces).”
–Field Level Media
