The Washington Mystics defeated the Aces on Thursday at Sports and Entertainment Arena to take a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five playoff series. Game 3 is Sunday in Las Vegas.
Sam Gordon
Reporter: UNLV
Email: sgordon@reviewjournal.com
X: @BySamGordon
Sam Gordon was born and raised in Minneapolis and is back for his second stint with the Review-Journal. He’s covered the NFL, NBA, the Big Ten, the Mountain West and prep sports for various publications during his professional tenure. Gordon, a University of Minnesota graduate, is a basketball junkie who coached high school basketball for three seasons.
The 5-foot-8-inch guard is averaging 14.2 points and 4.7 assists on 47.1 percent shooting, including 48 percent on 3-pointers, in her last six games coming off the bench.
Las Vegas guard Kelsey Plum was bumped on her potential game-tying 20-footer, but no foul was called and time expired.
The Aces chartered a plane to Washington, D.C., on Monday, under the direction of WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who also made the allowance for the Los Angeles Sparks.
Cambage in four games against the Sky averaged 22.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and shot 56.4 percent from the field.
Dearica Hamby made a 3-pointer from near halfcourt with five seconds left in regulation Sunday afternoon to lift the Aces to a 93-92 playoff victory over the Chicago Sky at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury endured an impressive effort from underdog Otto Wallin before asserting his dominance in the latter rounds Saturday at T-Mobile Arena.
The fifth-year forward averaged career highs of 11 points and 7.6 rebounds in 34 games, 25 of them as a reserve, and shot 48.8 percent from the field.
The San Antonio Stars were 23-79 in the three seasons before relocating to Las Vegas in 2017. The franchise will host the Chicago Sky on Sunday in the WNBA playoffs.
The Aces purchased a two-page advertisement in the Review-Journal’s sports section, featuring a letter by Laimbeer urging the community to attend the team’s playoff game 2 p.m. Sunday against the Chicago Sky at Thomas Mack Center.
The 31-year-old from England will fight Otto Wallin on Saturday at T-Mobile Arena, after making his Las Vegas debut in June with a technical knockout of Tom Schwarz.
Among the men who have practiced with the Aces are former Desert Pines and Baylor standout Pierre Jackson and ex-UNLV players Stephen Zimmerman and Ike Nwamu.
The Aces’ A’ja Wilson had the second-most popular jersey, and Liz Cambage, Kelsey Plum and Kayla McBride finished sixth, seventh and 10th in jersey sales.
The fifth-year forward was named Sixth Woman of the Year by The Associated Press on Wednesday after averaging career highs of 11 points and 7.6 rebounds in 34 games.
The eight-team field is set, and play opens with a pair of single-elimination games that will determine who the Aces play Sunday in the franchise’s first playoff game since 2014.
