Part of the test for the Las Vegas Aces is to see if they can produce an encore.

The visiting Aces meet the Connecticut Sun on Thursday night at Uncasville, Conn., in a rematch from earlier in the week.

“Super difficult,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “We know everybody in the league has to do this at some point. It’s difficult playing such a good team, such a seasoned team, a veteran team on a back-to-back like this.”

The Aces beat the Sun 90-84 on Tuesday night, building a 19-point lead and seeing the margin shrink to three points with four minutes to play. Las Vegas held on to stretch its season-opening winning streak to seven games.

The rematch will mark the end of a four-game trip, which has produced Las Vegas victories by five, four and six points.

“We’ve been tested the whole road trip,” Hammon said. “I don’t think we’ve played our best basketball yet, but we always want to be improving and learning and building good habits.”

Because of an encouraging fourth quarter, the Sun (6-2) could be in a good frame of mind.

“I think we got some good momentum that we can build on,” Sun coach Stephanie White said.

“We could have gone either way at halftime and this team showed what we were about. Our challenge is still to find 40 minutes of that effort and that execution.”

The Aces generally locked down defensively, though Rebecca Allen’s six 3-point baskets off the bench helped her to 22 points.

“You have to be able to withstand runs like that when somebody gets hot,” Hammon said.

For the Sun, with Allen and DiJonai Carrington combining for 33 points in reserve roles Tuesday, there are various sources of offense.

“We have depth and it can be anybody at any moment,” White said.

Tuesday’s matchup marked the first meeting of the season between the WNBA finalists from a season ago.

“Any road win is a good win against a quality team,” Hammon said. “It was a good test for us and it will even be more so come Thursday.”

–Field Level Media