Wilson’s historic night powers Aces to fourth straight win — PHOTOS
Becky Hammon was asked to describe yet another masterpiece performance from her superstar.
“It’s just A’ja being A’ja,” the Aces’ coach said.
Even if that is the case, A’ja Wilson showed she can go into another gear from time to time.
Wilson became the first player in WNBA history to record a 30-20 game with 32 points and a career-high-tying 20 rebounds, as the Aces won their fourth straight game with a 94-86 victory over the Connecticut Sun at Michelob Ultra Arena on Sunday.
It’s the second time the reigning league MVP has hit the 20-rebound mark, and first since July 10, 2024, against the Seattle Storm.
“As many greats as we have in this league, that’s kind of a shocker that it’s just now happening now,” Wilson said. “It’s a blessing. I love what I do. I love it so much. Any time that I could come out and play basketball the way that I love it … I’m happy with that.”
The Aces (18-14) extended their seasonlong winning streak, and won for the sixth time in seven games, thanks to Wilson.
She has three of her 14 double-doubles in the last four games, averaging 25.5 points and 13.3 rebounds during that stretch. All of that came after the Aces’ record-setting 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 2.
All-star guard Jackie Young had 21 points, and reserve guard Dana Evans chipped in with 10 second-half points to survive a scare against a lowly Connecticut team.
“Every night, she shows up,” Young said of Wilson. “She’s so great at what she does. She shows up at both ends for us. Having 32 and 20 is crazy.”
Sun wouldn’t set
The Aces started strong. They made six of their first eight shots and took a 14-6 lead with 5:35 left in the opening quarter.
But the Sun (5-25), even with the worst record in the league, found their rhythm in those final five-plus minutes. They went 6 of 10 from 3-point range, and forward Marina Mabrey scored 13 points in the opening 10 minutes to give her team a 31-27 lead after the first.
Shots kept falling in the second. The lead ballooned to 43-33 in the first 3:01 before Hammon called a timeout.
Hammon was prepared to go into the break to give one of her usual profanity-laced halftime speeches to wake her team up.
Her team woke up. The Aces ended the half with 10 consecutive defensive stops, and went into the break tied at 45.
“Sometimes we put our hands down and allow ourselves to get punched,” Hammon said. “That timeout pissed me off because it was us with our hands down, taking punches. … It took us a quarter of getting punched around a little bit, I thought, for us to kind of gain some sturdiness on the defensive end.”
The Aces were steady defensively in the third quarter, holding the Sun to 7-of-20. Offensively, six different players scored. Wilson had seven, while Young and Evans had five each.
Wilson put the game away with 12 of the Aces’ 24 points in the fourth quarter.
Taking a punch
This roller-coaster season for the Aces has seen more low points than what they’re used to. They hit rock bottom after losing 111-58 to the best team in the league a little more than a week ago.
Gone, for the moment, is the team that recently won back-to-back WNBA championships and has made it to the semifinals six straight seasons.
Now stands a team that’s continuously learning how to take a punch. The Aces are now tied with the Indiana Fever for fifth in the league standings.
“The Aces have always had this swagger of, just like, ‘Oh, we’re here,’ ” Wilson said. “I feel like we’ve had that swagger too long, too much. We lost our ability to punch back because we relied on this swagger that was not there for us this year in the beginning.”
Wilson said the Aces have been punched so many times that now, during this winning streak, they’re punching back.
They’ll have an opportunity to land their biggest punch Wednesday when the New York Liberty come to town in a rematch of last year’s semifinals and the 2023 WNBA Finals.
Hammon, however, knows that the Aces can’t have the same effort as they did early Sunday.
“On Wednesday, if we sleepwalk into the first quarter, it’s going to be a 20-point game before we blink,” she said.
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
