LAS VEGAS (July 5, 2018)—Neither team led by more than seven points Thursday evening, but the Las Vegas Aces used a late 6-0 run to come away with an 84-80 victory, and leapfrog the Chicago Sky into ninth place in the league standings. The Aces now trail the Atlanta Dream by 2.5 games, and the Dallas Wings by 3.0 games in the race for a WNBA postseason berth.

KEY RUNS

The Sky cut the Aces’ lead to one, 78-77, with 3:52 to go in the game, but Las Vegas scored the next six to pick up the four-point win. Kayla McBride’s driving layup with 2:14 on the clock got the run started, while A’ja Wilson and Tamera Young each hit a single free throw, and Dearica Hamby knocked down a pair of freebies.

KEY STATS

Chicago committed 18 turnovers on the day which the Aces’ turned into 19 points. On the flip side, Las Vegas committed 10 turnovers which the Sky turned into 13 points.

A’ja Wilson and Kayla McBride combined to go 21 for 44 from the field for 52 points.

Chicago’s bench outscored the Aces’ bench 33-13.

Las Vegas outrebounded Chicago, 40-35 overall, and 12-8 on the offensive glass,

GAME NOTES

A’ja Wilson (24 points) scored in double figures for the 19th straight time to start her WNBA career, and scored 20 or more points for the 12th time.

Kayla McBride (28 points) scored in double figures for the 16th time this season, and the 15th straight. It is her sixth game of 20 or more points.

Moriah Jefferson scored her first points and made her first basket of the season.

Carolyn Swords grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds. Her previous high of 11 came against San Antonio on July 10, 2016.

A’ja Wilson blocked a career-high 7 shots.

Las Vegas Aces Postgame Quotes

Head Coach Bill Laimbeer

I thought that was a very important win for us, we have an outside chance at a playoff berth down the road if we continue to be competitive and win games, but tonight’s game was very important.  They’re growing and they’re hungry and they want that playoff chance, so I told them they had to win this game and they did.  I told them we needed to do it with defense, we didn’t see defense in the first half, but we saw defense in the second half and that’s what won us the game.  We rode our two big horses with McBride and Wilson but scratched out a win.  We got big rebounds when we had to and we’ll take the home win.

On McBride and Wilson playing at a high level

Well I don’t know about a high level but they’re both twenty-point scorers, and we get thirty from them one night and one night we get twelve, but overall, they’re counted on to do the bulk of our scoring and everybody in the league knows it.  Teams are trying to set defenses to stop them but they’re just playing at all-star caliber right now and I’m almost positive A’ja Wilson will make the all-star team and I’m hoping McBride does as well, she’s very deserving at the moment and there’s a long way to go still.  Hopefully our fans get out and vote with about a week left of voting, but she’s really playing a phenomenal year this year and she’s helping us win basketball games.

On A’ja Wilson defensively in the fourth quarter

She struggled offensively in the second half, she missed some easy shots, but she hung tough and coming down the stretch she made a lot of blocks.  Overall, I thought she made the big plays defensively for us but I think it was a team effort defensively.

On team’s growth in fourth quarter

You can grow by getting stops.  It’s a mental thing.  I told them with two and a half minutes to go that they’re not tired, they’re mentally tired and you cant be mentally tired in professional basketball, you have to push through it.  Both teams were tired and whoever stood up mentally was going to win the basketball game, so I challenged them to be more mentally tough down the stretch and they made the plays.  We’re so young, I have to keep hammering it into them about the mental toughness part of the game and I was very pleased with how they showed up down the stretch.

Starting Forward A’Ja Wilson

On playing with McBride:

I think it’s just her mentality. We work well off each other and they’re double-teaming if they’re trapping in the post. I know that I can trust the fact that I can kick it out to her and she’ll knock down the open shot. I think she feels the same way and there are times where she’s throwing it in the post and the face that she trusts me, our trust is really growing throughout the season. I know I need McBride and our trust is growing and that’s what’s helping us really grow as a team. I feel like with us moving like that then the team gets the ball. Honestly, our trust is the biggest thing. Her IQ is pretty good. I take in everything that she says and she’s guiding me in her footsteps. I’m honored to be her teammate.

On winning game on the defensive side of the ball:

Defense wins games. That’s what you need to win later on in the playoffs. There’s going to be night where things fall in, things may not be going the way they need it to be. If you get stops, the offense will get the ball and I think that’s the biggest thing with us is to channel the defensive standpoint. We have to get stops no matter what and that’s what helped us to get this win.

On adjusting to the physical nature of the league:

I came from the SEC and this is what happens. That was it and that was how we played. It’s nothing really different and the girls are probably a little bit bigger. Other than that, we’re past the midway point and people are starting to gear into the playoffs and that’s how it’s going to be in the playoffs for us if you want to play at this level. There’s been times where you might not get the hit or you might not get the call but you have to push through that. That’s helping us mentally prepare for the playoffs. Making the playoffs is a big motivation for us. We’re taking it one game at a time and we can control what we can control. We know we have a lot of things that we need to work on but we’re just going to keep on going.

Starting Guard Kayla McBride:

On working well with Wilson:

A’ja came in with a lot on her plate. Being the No. 1 pick, a lot of pressure, new city, new coach, kind of a clean slate for me. I’m just trying to give her confidence, give her my experience and just keep pushing her. You see in the game if I know she’s not being aggressive enough, I’m in her face. I see her and I see how great she can be. We’re trying to bring a championship here and as long as we have trust between us, the rest of the team will follow.

On going up against Quigley:

I actually played against her last season overseas and she’s one of the hardest players to guard for me in the WNBA. Credit her, she’s really come develop herself and solidify herself the last couple of years in this league being an All-Star, a three-point champion. You’ve got to respect her. I try to learn from everybody that I play against and she’s one of the main people that I view along with Diana Taurasi and Maya Moore, I was probably one of the next best catch-and-shoot player in this league. Being able to take things from her especially as a younger player, somebody that has a lot of experience. I have a lot of respect for her game.

On developing that defensive identity down the stretch:

We’re trying to get to the playoffs and we treated this game like a playoff game. In order to be a great team, you have to get stops when it counts. We were just trying to get down deep. That’s what we’re capable of and we know the bar that we have to set for ourselves. If we continue to push that and stay up there, we’re going to be really good.

Chicago Sky Head Coach Amber Stocks

On the win: We did some things that cost us the game. We allowed too many free-throw attempts without earning free-throw attempts ourselves. We gave up too many offensive rebounds without offensive rebounding opportunities for ourselves. We committed too many turnovers while not forcing the opponent into more turnovers. We allowed the top two scorers for Las Vegas to put up high numbers and our top two players did not produce the number of points we needed to win.

On bench production: Courtney Vandersloot does a good job of distributing the ball and scoring it as well. There were just some missed opportunities we had to attack the rim and get the ball inside. But we tried really hard to move the ball around and get Diamond [DeShields] and [Allie] Quigley shots. Cheyenne Parker was productive off the bench. Astou Ndour, before her unfortunate and untimely injury, was poised to have a big night for us. Missing a key player in our rotation really affected our ability to defend.

On the first game without Jamierra Faulkner: After the Ndour injury we were playing with 10 players in our rotation. We’re down to 10 players and missing a key post player against a team that is very aggressive in the paint. We missed Ndour’s length, rebounding, defense and ability to run in transition. Without Faulkner and Ndour it was a tough game for us and our rotations.

Diamond DeShields:

On the late, deciding stretch of the game

“Well we know that they have players that are very capable of scoring the basketball, A’ja Wilson and Kayla McBride and at times Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby. Down the stretch just trying to get stops, multiple stops obviously that didn’t happen. But it’s just something that we have to learn from to get better next time.”

Playing in Vegas

“I think what their ownership is doing with their program is incredible, from the marketing standpoint, especially just giving the ladies the platform to be seen. You know when you walk through this city you see Las Vegas Aces and its a credit to their ownership and we appreciate that as members of this league. It’s nice to have our voices heard and be seen so people know that this league is here. It’s been amazing, it’s been a great experience.”

Linnae Harper:

Bench production

“We’re just trying to bring energy coming off the bench. We want to bring a spark and help in any way that we could. (Cheyenne) did a phenomenal job rebounding and trying to get to the line and guard in their post. We’re going to get better but they did a good job bringing energy and definitely hustling on both ends of the court.”

On the difference in the game

“Just overall both offensively and defensively it’s just a lesson that are have to learn to get better and just get back to the drawing board and figure out (how to move forward).”