CHICAGO (July 25, 2023)—Kelsey Plum’s 27 points led the Las Vegas Aces (22-2) to a 107-95 road win over the Chicago Sky (9-14) at Wintrust Arena on Tuesday night. Also scoring in their 20s were A’ja Wilson (24) and Chelsea Gray (22), who dished out 9 assists. Kiah Stokes hauled in 17 rebounds to tie her career high. The Sky were led by Kahleah Copper, who scored a career-high 37 points.
Box Score | Photos | Highlights
KEY RUNS
First Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 30, Chicago 26)
The Sky scored the game’s first 4 points, but Wilson fired off 7-straight to get the Aces on the board. Neither team held more than a 4-point lead over the first 6 minutes of the period and with 1:58 to play Chicago was up 24-22. The Aces strung together 8 unanswered points, including 4-straight from the line from Plum, for their largest advantage of the quarter, 30-26. The Aces never again relinquished their lead. The Aces connected on 57.9% from the field, while the Sky made 47.4% of theirs. In contrast, the Aces made just 1 of 4 from 3-point and the Sky hit on 5 of 10 from afar. Wilson had 13 points and the Sky’s Kahleah Copper scored 15 in the period.
Second Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 55, Chicago 48)
Five Aces scored in an 11-4 run to open the second quarter and launch the Aces to a 41-30 lead. But it was the Sky’s turn next as they hit a trio of 3s in a 11-3 spurt that erased the double-digit deficit and drew them to within 3 points, 44-41, with 4:32 on the clock. The Aces edged the Sky 11-7 over the remainder of the half to head into the locker room up 55-48. Young, who was 2 of 2 from beyond the arc in the quarter, led the Aces with 8 points. Copper scored 7 to help keep the Sky in play. The Aces hit 51.3% from the field and 6 of 12 from afar, and held the Sky to just 38.9% overall from the field. However, the hosts nailed 5 of 7 of their 3-point attempts (.714).
Third Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 79, Chicago 69)
The Aces lead vacillated between 6-12 points throughout the quarter, as each time they extended their lead to double figures, the Sky clawed the lead back. Midway through the quarter, with the Aces up 67-59, Wilson picked up her 4th foul and was sent to the bench. The Sky quickly closed to 71-65 but the Aces rallied and outscored the home team 8-4 to close the 3rd quarter back up by 10, 79-69. Plum led the Aces with 9 points and Gray scored 8. Copper continued to lead the Sky with 9 points.
Fourth Quarter Highlights (Las Vegas 107, Chicago 95)
The Aces’ lead fell to 6 points early on and with 6:19 to play the Sky were still close, 88-79. Kelsey Plum scored 5 points in a 7-2 Aces run to put Las Vegas up 97-81 with 4:41 to play. Gray, Wilson and Young scored 7 apiece and Stokes grabbed 6 boards in the final stanza. Elizabeth Williams came up with a high of 8 points for the Sky.
KEY STATS
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The Aces hit an even 50% of their field goals and 31.8% from beyond the arc, while the Sky made 47.1% of their shots and 54.2% (13-24 3FGs) of their 3-pointers.
The Sky’s 13 3-pointers were the most made by any team against the Aces this season.
The Aces dominated the Sky in the paint (50-24 points).
The Aces notched 17 points from Chicago’s 13 miscues, while giving up 5 off of their own 5 turnovers.
Kahleah Copper scored 22 of her career-high 37 points in the first half.
GAME NOTES
Kiah Stokes’ 17 rebounds tied her career high (Atlanta, June 7, 2017) and nearly doubled her season high (9, 3 times)
The Aces have now scored 90+ points in 18 of their 24 games this season and hit the 100-point mark 5 times.
The Aces (.917) are on pace to record the highest winning percentage in league history. Only the 1998 Houston Comets (27-3, .900) won at least 90% of their games.
The Aces continue to lead the league in scoring and upped their average to 94.1 points per game, which is higher than the league’s all-time record (2010 Phoenix Mercury, 93.88)
With 2 games still underway at press time, the Aces also lead the WNBA in field goal percentage (.503), blocked shots (5.2), offensive (114.8) and defensive (95.8) efficiency, net rating (19.0), assist to turnover ratio (1.83), turnovers (14.9), effective field goal percentage (.569), true shooting percentage (.610) and points in the paint (41.1).
The Aces were again without the services of Candace Parker and Riquna Williams.
NEXT UP
The Aces, whose last 6 wins came against teams in the bottom half of the league standings, will face opponents in the top half in each of their next 8 games. First up is a rematch against Dallas (13-9), one of two teams that have beaten the Aces this year, on July 30 in Las Vegas at Michelob ULTRA Arena. Tip is scheduled for 3 pm, and the game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network and Silver State Sports & Entertainment Network and on the radio at ESPN Las Vegas.
