A’ja Wilson leaves with injury in latest loss for Aces — PHOTOS
Every chance she got in the lead-up to Wednesday’s game, Aces coach Becky Hammon made public pleas for the team to show some heart.
Hammon was preparing the Aces to host the Los Angeles Sparks for the second time this season, having blown them out by 15 points on May 30. The Golden State Valkyries provided both teams plenty of motivation prior to tipoff, handing the Aces a 27-point defeat on Saturday before beating the Sparks in overtime on Monday.
“Try hard,” Hammon said of her desire from the Aces after a practice. “Everybody’s trying their hardest against you. You can’t get punked like that.”
Many metaphors about playing tough followed, but the Aces couldn’t display the mentality for a full game, taking a 97-89 loss to the Sparks to open a three-game homestand at Michelob Ultra Arena.
The home team got off to a 9-2 start, but Rickea Jackson erased that lead with three-straight 3-pointers. The Aces never led again, and the Sparks’ lead ballooned to 20 points in the second quarter.
Aces star A’ja Wilson left the game late in the third quarter with what the team said was a head injury. She had 13 points, eight rebounds, five assists, four blocks and two steals when she departed. The Aces were also without Megan Gustafson (lower left leg) and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus (pregnant).
“We have to put quarters together. We can’t put just two, three minutes together,” Hammon said postgame. “So I think we took a huge punch. We battled back. But I mean, you spot a team 20 (points) and then we’re down three post players. (It’s) tough.”
Jackie Young scored 34 points and Chelsea Gray added 28 for the Aces (4-4), who trailed 29-17 after the first quarter. Although it was Gray’s best game of the season, she said her biggest takeaway was that she gave up five turnovers and had only one assist.
Jackson led the Sparks (4-7) with a career-high 30 points. Former Aces Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby added 13 and 19 points, respectively.
Here are three takeaways from the loss:
1. A’ja Wilson injury
Wilson took an apparent hit to the face as she and Kiah Stokes went up to defend an attempted layup from Hamby, but no foul was called.
After grabbing her face and running to the bench to have a piece of gauze put in her nose, Wilson, Young and Gray all contributed to a 7-0 run that brought the Aces’ deficit down to 57-51 with 4:36 left in the third quarter, forcing the Sparks to call a timeout.
But Wilson ran back to the locker room with less than a minute left in third, and the Sparks entered the fourth quarter with a 71-65 lead.
Hammon said she was under the impression that the injury was caused by Hamby’s elbow and that it drew blood, but that the team won’t know anything else until Wilson visits a doctor Thursday.
2. Young battles
After being held scoreless in the first quarter, Young battled until the last second. She had a hand in all of the Aces’ final points, scoring 12 and assisting Stokes and Gray for the other five.
A solo 9-0 run from Young in the second quarter brought the Aces within nine points at 39-30 after trailing by 20. The burst included back-to-back driving three-point plays and a 3-pointer, and she had 14 points by halftime. She converted on another three-point play to end the third quarter.
Young said she wasn’t aggressive enough to start the game but was able to adjust her approach in the second quarter. When Wilson went out, she knew she had to lift the team.
“One person can’t pick up the weight when A’ja’s gone. It takes all of us,” she said. “So I just tried to do whatever I could to help the team win, whether that was driving and scoring or kicking my teammates for the right play.”
3. Roster moves
The Aces only got three points from their reserves Wednesday, courtesy of Tiffany Mitchell. The Aces shot 25.7 percent from deep (9-for-35) and went 37.5 percent from the field (27-for-72).
New addition Jewell Loyd scored seven points in 25 minutes. It was her fifth of eight games scoring in single figures.
When asked if the team has considered moving her out of the starting lineup, Hammon said Loyd has suggested it herself.
“She came out, she had three fouls. So that’s always a little bit of a hindrance in somebody’s playing time. But she’s doing a lot of other things right,” Hammon said. “Yes, (coming off the bench) has been talked about, brought up by her.”
While that seems unlikely, the team announced two moves before tipoff in hopes of bolstering its bench: waiving Crystal Bradford and signing 6-foot-3-inch forward Joyner Holmes.
Bradford signed a training camp contract with the Aces in February. She averaged 1.0 points and 1.3 rebounds in limited minutes off the bench.
Holmes most recently played for the Seattle Storm. She holds career averages of 2.8 points and 2.0 rebounds.
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
