Las Vegas Aces fold late in 87-84 loss to Chicago Sky

The Aces almost equaled the third largest comeback in franchise history Friday night at Mandalay Bay Events Center.

Key word — almost.

Las Vegas rallied after surrendering an early 18-2 run, but couldn’t quite overcome its slow start and fell 87-84 to the Chicago Sky before an announced crowd of 4,200 in the first of three consecutive home games.

Liz Cambage returned after a two-game absence and bullied her way to a season-high 28 points and 11 rebounds for Las Vegas in her most dominant outing thus far. The other four starters, though, combined to shoot 10 of 39, and the Aces committed three key turnovers in the final 3:18.

The Aces (15-9) fell to fourth in the league — behind the Connecticut Sun (16-7), Washington Mystics (16-7) and Los Angeles Sparks (14-8). They welcome the Sun to Las Vegas on Sunday.

“Right now, everybody is fighting for playoff position. It’s a different ballgame, and we didn’t show up tonight,” Aces guard Kayla McBride said after shooting 3 of 15. “It is what it is. On to the next game.”

The Aces know the significance of every game as they jostle for seeding atop the WNBA standings with an arduous stretch of road games on the horizon. Yet they lacked energy in the first quarter and struggled to stay in front of Chicago’s guards as they probed the paint, attacked the basket and kicked to open shooters spread out on the perimeter.

The Aces trailed 27-14 after the first quarter, but turned to Cambage, who muscled her way to score after score and helped the Aces cut the deficit to 48-41 at halftime. She produced some more in the second half amid relentless defensive attention, and Sugar Rodgers came off the bench to bury a pair of key 3-pointers as Las Vegas seized a 68-63 third-quarter lead.

But point guard Courtney Vandersloot helped Chicago (14-9) chip away in the fourth quarter, and assisted on four consecutive baskets while the Aces unraveled. Kelsey Plum didn’t score and had two crucial turnovers, and Cambage threw the ball out of bounds with 21.5 seconds left.

“There’s a lot of little things that we didn’t get done today,” Rodgers said. “They created things. That hurt us.”

The Aces still had two chances to tie the game in the final seconds, but McBride missed a deep straightaway 3-pointer and Rodgers followed with a miss from the left wing.

Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer didn’t hide his disdain after the game, characterizing the loss as “frustrating” and suggesting he may alter the starting lineup.

“I can’t come out every two out of three games and be down double digits in the first quarter because we just don’t have it,” he said. “That’s unacceptable, and it can’t happen any longer. … I may stay the course. I don’t know, but something has to (happen) differently. It’s too frustrating, and we have to try something different.”

Vandersloot finished with 16 points and 13 assists for the Sky.

Rodgers had 14 for the Aces.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.