LAS VEGAS, NV.— On a night when the Aces ‘Core Four’ were resting, the remainder of the team stepped up in a 98-84 victory over the visiting Dallas Wings (9-31) Thursday night. Megan Gustafson led the way for Las Vegas (27-13) in her first start in Michelob ULTRA Arena with a career-high 24 points. Tiffany Hayes (21 points), Sydney Colson (13) and Kierstan Bell (12) posted season highs, while Alysha Clark rounded out the double-digit Aces scorers with 10.
Dallas was led by a game-high 25 points from Satou Sabally.
The result of the game was immaterial with regards to playoff seeding as Connecticut’s win over Chicago earlier in the day locked the Aces into the 4 seed, and they will take on the 5th-seed Seattle Storm in the best-of-3 First Round series.
The Aces shot 35 of 75 from the field (.467) and 15 of 37 from 3-point range (.405), while the Wings made 30 of 70 (.429) overall and 9 of 20 (.450) from distance.
The Wings outscored the Aces 17-11 in fast break points.
The Aces outrebounded the Wings 38-33, 10-7 on the offensive glass.
Both teams turned the ball over 13 times each, from which the Aces scored 26 points and the Wings managed to score 17.
The 60 points scored in the first half marked a season-high for points in a half for Las Vegas after previously scoring 54 points twice, last vs. Seattle on July 10.
The Aces 15 made 3-pointers equaled their season-high (Sept. 8 at New York).
Hayes scored a season-high 21 points to give her 4,623 for her career, moving into 35th place on the all-time W scoring list. Elena Delle Donne is No. 34 with 4,706.
Hayes tied her season-high assists tally with 5.
Gustafson’s 25 points surpassed her previous career-best 19 points (at Atlanta, July 25, 2023) and her 12 points in the third quarter bettered the 11 points she scored twice in a quarter (last vs Seattle, Aug. 5, 2023). Her 7 rebounds were a season-high (6, 3 times, last vs Dallas, July 7).
Colson made her first start since the 2017 season when she was with the San Antonio Silver Stars. Colson started the first 4 games of the year that season, with the last one coming on May 25, 2017.
Bell’s 12 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists were season highs.
Queen Egbo recorded season-highs of 8 points, 5 rebounds and 2 steals.
Colson’s 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots were all season highs.
Kate Martin made the 2nd start of her WNBA career and dished out a career-high 4 assists.
The Aces were without the services of Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young (rest) while the Wings were without Teaira McCowan (suspended), Arike Ogunbowale (illness) and Stephanie Soares (left knee).
The Aces host the Seattle Storm in the First Round of the WNBA Playoffs beginning Sunday, Sept. 22, at 7 pm. The game will be broadcast nationally by ESPN.
Photo/LasVegasAces
Las Vegas Aces contributed to this recap
