LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Las Vegas Aces are keeping its perfect season in tact after taking down the Atlanta Dream 92-87 on Friday night. The squad now improves to 5-0 with the best start in franchise history.
Going into the second half, the Aces were leading by 15 and were able to stay ahead by double digits until the fourth quarter. That's when the Dream rallied by going on a 15-4 run to get within five points with less than four minutes to play. Atlanta got even closer to the lead pulling within two points with just 36 seconds left on the clock. However, Chelsea Gray hit a jumper while Kiah Stokes blocked a three-pointer for Las Vegas to escape with the win.
Head coach Becky Hammon said the game showed the team still has things to improve on.
"I felt like our defense kind of fell apart in the second half and there were just too many mistakes. I'm glad we didn't go into overtime because I think they would have caught us on a night like tonight," Hammon said. "We have some growth to do and at the end of the day, we need tests like this. We need to be pushed a little bit down the stretch and they pushed us."
A big focus for tonight's game was defense with A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young both saying the Aces allowed the Dream to score too many points.
"We grinding out wins but we're putting ourselves in situations that I think we don't need to do," Wilson said. "We've got to really buckle in on the defensive end and hopefully have a different showing. We have to understand we can't take any nights off. We can't take any possessions off. We have to be great on the defensive end because that's what gets our offense going."
Las Vegas only made six three-point shots on the night and Hammon said she could tell it affected players' mentality.
"It's frustrating when shots aren't falling but you can't let it affect other parts of your game," Hammon said. "I don't think we handled it exceptionally well especially in the fourth quarter."
A few highlights from the game included Young, who was named the Associated Press Player of the Week, who scored at least 20 points for the fourth time in five games and also hit the 1,500th point of her career. Wilson also scored at least double digits for the 29th consecutive regular season game, which is the third-longest active streak in the WNBA. After Friday night's game, Candace Parker is now 7th in WNBA career assists and 8th in WNBA career scoring.
The Aces are continuing their road trip and are now heading to Indiana. They'll tip-off against the Fever on Sunday at 1 p.m.
