Despite Jackie Young’s Career Night, Aces fall 97-89

After suffering a devastating loss to the Golden State Valkyries, the Las Vegas Aces (4-4) came into this game looking to capture the same magic that they held in their win over the Los Angeles Sparks (4-7) on May 30.

Jackie Young tied her career-high, scoring 34 points, while Chelsea Gray followed up with a season-high 28 points, but it wasn’t enough to give the Aces the edge over the Sparks.

Rickea Jackson scored 30 points, Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens, led the Sparks in the win. Hamby and Stevens both scored 19 points, respectively.

In the first quarter, the Aces got off to a strong 9-2 run, but the Sparks sparked a run of their own, going on an 18-6 tear, with included 5 three-pointers. The Aces went 26.3% from the field and went 3-10 from the long range.

The Sparks stayed hot and at the 8:03 mark, the Aces were down by as much as 20 points. Jackie Young came through to offer up a 14-3 run to close the gap to 42-33 with 4:26 left in the half.

With 4:19 left in the quarter, A’ja Wilson scored 8 points to contribute to the Aces 12-7 run to make it 57-53. Chelsea Gray launched a three-pointer that brought the Aces to within four of the Sparks, 60-56. That was the smallest deficit of the night for the Aces.

A’ja Wilson left with 1:17 to go in the third quarter with a head injury, she did not return to the game. She finished the game with 13 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals in 27 minutes. Wilson’s injury will be evaluated on Thursday.

In the fourth quarter, the Aces made a concerted effort to comeback to win the game, but the Sparks would not go down easy. The Aces shot 11.1% from the three-point line for the quarter and 9-for-19 from the floor to close out the quarter.

Following the loss, Aces coach Becky Hammon said, “We have to put quarters together, we can’t just put two or three minutes together. The defense, how easy it is, is the frustrating part, you know. They’re (Sparks) getting layups, they’re getting wide open threes. There has to be a level of execution defensively.”

The Aces continue their home stretch with a matchup with the young Dallas Wings on Friday, June 13 at 7pm PT. The game will be televised on ION.