Defending champion Liberty pull away from Aces in opener

Natasha Cloud scored 22 points with a game-high nine assists, six rebounds, three steals and two blocks in her New York Liberty debut as the defending WNBA champions earned a 92-78 victory over the visiting Las Vegas Aces on Saturday afternoon.

Breanna Stewart had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Liberty, while Jonquel Jones added 17 points and 10 rebounds. It was New York's fifth straight season-opening win.

Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu was held to eight points on 3-for-12 shooting, including 0-for-5 from deep.

New York, which shot 48.6 percent from the floor, had a 56-32 advantage on points in the paint. Las Vegas was held to 34.1-percent shooting.

Aces forward A'ja Wilson, the reigning WNBA MVP, had game highs with 31 points and 16 rebounds in the season opener for both teams. Jackie Young added 16 points for Las Vegas.

Wilson scored 11 points in the first quarter while helping Las Vegas rally for a 20-19 lead.

In the second quarter, New York put together a 12-3 run as the Aces went 1 of 12 from the floor during that span. New York led 47-33 at halftime after Stewart's 3-pointer was wiped away on video review after it was ruled to come a tick after the buzzer.

Stewart and Wilson each had 13 points to lead all first-half scorers. Cloud had 10 points.

Las Vegas won the third quarter, closing its deficit to 63-58. Wilson had 11 points in the third, and Young had nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from deep.

Early in the fourth, Las Vegas cut the deficit to two points before Cloud make two straight three-point-play layups to stretch New York's lead to 72-64 with 6:16 left and the Aces never recovered.

New York now leads its all-time series against Las Vegas 33-32. New York also knocked the Aces out of the playoffs last year in the league semifinals.