The Aces edge out the Liberty in a hard fought game, 83-77

The Las Vegas Aces (19-14) faced off against the New York Liberty (21-12) on Wednesday night at home.

The Aces got off to a quick 14-12 lead over the Liberty with under 5:00 left in the first quarter. Dana Evans shot the first three-pointer for the Aces.

Jonquel Jones drove to the basket to tie the Aces, 14-14 with 4:30 to go in the first quarter. Marine Johannes made a jumper to give the Liberty a 17-14 lead.

To close out the first quarter, A’ja Wilson made a couple of free-throws along with Chelsea Gray sinking an 11-footer in the closing seconds of the opening quarter.

Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd came on in the opening minutes of the second quarter to give the Aces a 27-26 lead. With 3:45 to go in the second quarter, Sabrina Ionescu made a 25-footer to give the Liberty a 36-33 lead.

The Liberty and the Aces continued to battle back and forth trading shots. Jackie Young made her way to the free-throw line to tie the game, 40-40.

Leonie Fiebich hit a three-pointer with 39.1 seconds left in the second quarter to give the Liberty a 43-40 lead to head into the locker room at halftime.

In the second half, both teams continue to trade scores. The Aces seemed to stay with the Liberty stride-for-stride.

With 2:06 to go in the third quarter, Jackie Young shot a massive three-pointer to tie the game at 58. Toward the end of the third quarter, the momentum shifted after the Aces lost a challenge call.

The Aces closed out the quarter down by two. Chelsea Gray came in clutch with the two free-throws to give the Aces a 66-65 lead with 7:14 to go in the game.

At the 5:43 mark, the Aces led the Liberty 68-67.  The Aces then took a lead 70-69 lead with 5:10 to go in the fourth quarter.

Sabrina Ionescu was stepped to the line to sink two free-throws to tie the game at 72 with 4:19 left in the game.

With 12.1 second left in the game, Jackie Young made some clutch free-throws to give the Aces a 83-77 lead.

The Las Vegas Aces hold on to close out the New York Liberty 83-77.

“It’s always better when you’re winning, right?” Chelsea Gray said in the post-game presser.

“I think our communications has been there. We’re talking in huddles constantly. We’re not done evolving as a team,” Jewell Loyd said.

On Friday the Aces head to Phoenix to take on the Mercury at 7pm PT at the PHX Arena. The game will be nationally televised on ION.