Aces hold off Sun in rematch of last year's WNBA finals
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UNCASVILLE, Conn. -- — A'Ja Wilson scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and the defending champion Las Vegas Aces remained undefeated, holding off Connecticut 90-84 in a rematch of the teams who played in last year's WNBA Finals.
Jackie Young added 22 points for Vegas (7-0), which led by as many as 19 points and withstood a furious fourth quarter comeback by Connecticut (6-2). Kelsey Plum had 17 points and Chelsea Gray added 14 points.
Rebecca Allen scored 22 points for the Sun, hitting four of her six 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
Alyssa Thomas had her seventh double-double of the season, scoring 14 points and grabbing 11 rebounds for the Eastern Conference leaders, who had a three-game winning streak snapped. Brionna Jones added 15 points.
The Aces jumped out to an early 11-4 lead, led 25-14 after a quarter and never trailed.
A steal and a layup by Candace Parker pushed the lead to 19 at 46-27. Vegas led 48-31 at the half and 70-53 after three quarters.
It was 74-56 before Allen led the Sun on a 17-2 run in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to just three points.
But a driving layup and free throw from Young pushed the lead back to 84-77 with 1:15 to go and the Aces held on.
The Sun shot just 31% in the first half and made just two of their 14 attempts from 3-point range. They finished 10 of 26 from behind the arc and shooting 41% from the floor.
This was the first meeting of the two teams since the Aces beat the Sun in this arena 78-71 in Game 4 of the Finals last September to win the WNBA title.
The teams have a day off Wednesday before meeting again on the same floor Thursday night.