Angel McCoughtry turns Aces’ win into birthday bash

Angel McCoughtry decided to celebrate her 34th birthday on the court Thursday night.

She finished with 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists, one of three Aces with 20-plus points and five in double figures, and the Aces dominated the second half for a 104-89 win over Minnesota at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.

Kayla McBride had 21 points and five assists, and A’ja Wilson added 20 points, five rebounds, four assists and four blocked shots for the Aces (16-4), who clinched no worse than the No. 3 seed in the WNBA playoffs.

“Solid win for our ballclub. A lot of good things happened tonight,” Aces coach Bill Laimbeer said. “Angel got us off to a tremendous start. She’s feeling really good, and her body is the best its been all year by far.”

Crystal Dangerfield scored 24 points for Minnesota (13-8), which fell into a fifth-place tie with Phoenix. Napheesa Collier had 17 points, 11 rebounds and five assists.

Bombs away

The Aces are not known as a 3-point shooting team, but they were taking — and making — them Thursday.

They were 10-for-18 from 3-point range, and McCoughtry got it started by making two for the Aces’ first six points of the game. She finished 3-for-4 from beyond the arc, McBride was 5-for-7 and Danielle Robinson made two late in the third quarter that helped the Aces build a double-digit lead for the first time.

“I knew they were going to pack the paint, so I just had to set the tone and let them know we could hit jump shots,” McCoughtry said. “Kayla shot lights out, (Danielle did, too), and we let them know we can shoot jump shots. We don’t shoot a lot of 3s, but we can make them if we have to.”

The 10 3-pointers was the most the Aces have made in a game since moving to Las Vegas from San Antonio three years ago.

Wilson makes statement

Somewhat lost in Wilson’s MVP campaign has been her play on the defensive end. With her four blocked shots Thursday, she moved into the league lead with 2.0 per game.

For much of the first half of the season, she wasn’t going for as many blocks so she wouldn’t get into foul trouble. But she’s managed to balance blocking shots and not fouling and has become a strong anchor on the back end of the Aces’ defense.

“I take a lot of pride in (defense), especially when it comes to my teammates,” Wilson said. “I want them to know I’m going to be there as much as I can and as soon as I can to prevent them from getting fouls but also being that second level of defense.”

Collier’s 2nd-half doughnut

Collier was 7-for-10 in the first half for 17 points and was one of the main reasons the Aces only had a 56-54 lead at halftime.

But in the second half, Collier was held scoreless as Dearica Hamby shadowed her all over the court. Hamby didn’t have her top scoring game with eight points but grabbed 11 rebounds.

“Hamby did a really good job taking away her drives, not giving her any open looks,” Laimbeer said. “You’re not going to shut her down, and it’s unusual that she had a doughnut in the second half. We made her work for everything.”

Up next

The Aces will meet third-place Los Angeles (15-5) at noon Saturday.

Contact Jason Orts at jorts@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2936. Follow @SportsWithOrts on Twitter.