3 takeaways: Aces star salutes Beyonce, keeps making history

From public pleas for Beyonce to attend an Aces game, to expressing hopes that the singer will buy a WNBA team, A’ja Wilson has been trying to get the music icon’s attention.

The two-time WNBA MVP’s performance Friday might have been enough to get the 32-time Grammy-winning singer to engage.

Wilson arrived at the Aces’ road matchup against the Atlanta Dream wearing an official T-shirt from last summer’s Renaissance World Tour, along with custom headphones embellished with pearls.

She proceeded to lead the Aces to an 84-70 win over Atlanta, recording 33 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks. Wilson was 3-for-4 from distance, which made her the first player in WNBA history with at least 25 points, 15 rebounds, four blocks and three 3-pointers in a game.

Wilson said she listened to Beyonce’s album leading up to tipoff. After two quarters, she’d already recorded a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds with perfect shooting from the 3-point and free-throw lines.

“Everyone knows my love for Beyonce, and I don’t want people to think it’s just her music,” she said. “I feel like it’s just her desire to be great, and that’s something that I love to watch.”

Jackie Young had 19 points and six assists for the Aces (15-7), and Kelsey Plum added 15 points and seven assists.

Cheyenne Parker-Tyus led the short-handed Dream (7-15) with 17 points. Atlanta was without Rhyne Howard, Aerial Powers, Jordin Canada and Laeticia Amihere.

The Aces finish their three-game road trip against the Washington Mystics at noon Sunday.

Here are three takeaways from the Aces’ third straight win:

1. MVP odds

Wilson’s arrival shirt was reminiscent of Beyonce’s song “Alien Superstar,” which features the lyrics, “I’m one of one. I’m the only one. Don’t even waste your time trying to compete with me.”

To this point, those words aptly describe the WNBA MVP race. Wilson opened the season as the betting favorite at +175 to win the award at BetMGM. She’s now the overwhelming leader at -1,000.

Jeff Sherman, Westgate SuperBook vice president of risk, said Friday that he closed betting on the award last week when he realized that almost nothing could prevent her from winning it.

2. ‘On to the next thing’

Wilson had three steals Friday to reach 245 for her career and pass Aces coach Becky Hammon for the fourth-most steals in franchise history (244). She is also now tied for most games with at least 25 points and 10 rebounds in a single season in WNBA history with 10.

The numbers don’t mean much to Wilson.

“I’m on to the next thing immediately,” she said. “I feel like that’s how you know you’re doing pretty well because you have random stats like that. I train so hard to prep for these moments, so I would hope that I’d be playing the way that I need to play for my teammates.”

Young, who reached the milestone of 2,500 career points Friday, offered a similar answer regarding her accomplishment.

“I guess it’s cool,” Young said. “I’m just trying to get the win every game and do whatever I can to help my team be better.”

3. Finishing strong

The Aces have either flourished or suffered in the third quarter this season. On Friday, the Dream outscored the Aces 17-13 in the period, holding them scoreless for the last four minutes as they went on a 7-0 run.

Atlanta entered the fourth quarter down 57-47 after the Aces had previously led by as many as 17 points. But two Kate Martin 3-pointers got the Aces’ offense going again early in the fourth, and they were able to hold on for the win.

“The biggest thing is just keep playing the right way,” Hammon said.

She added that the pick-and-roll wasn’t leading to effective ball movement for the Aces in the third quarter, so she worked to get better spacing moving forward.

The Dream concentrated their defense in the paint, which put the pressure on the Aces to shoot. They were 41 percent from the field and from the 3-point line, connecting on 12 of 29 shots from deep compared to the Dream’s 2-of-19 3-point shooting.

Contact Callie Lawson-Freeman at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.