Recap: Chicago Falls 98-74 to ex-Sky member Young and the Aces

Read Time:2 Minute, 29 Second

Sky vs. Aces Recap

In the battle between the two youngest teams in the WNBA, the Las Vegas Aces (9-12) came out on top 98-74 in its duel against the Chicago Sky (7-13). Ex-Sky member Tamera Young led the Aces with 16 points, eight rebounds, and four assists, while Kayla McBride added 18 second-half points.

The Sky leaned on Courtney Vandersloot who led the offense with 11 points and eight assists. Gabby Williams stuffed the stat sheet in her second game coming off of the bench with nine points, three assists, three steals, and five rebounds.

The Sky started the game off strong by outscoring Las Vegas 21-17 in the first quarter. Chicago successfully double-teamed rookie of the year front-runner A’ja Wilson who didn’t record a field goal in the first quarter. Wilson would finish the game with a mild 14 points and four rebounds after coming off of a 34-point outburst the previous game. Wilson’s rookie counterpart, Diamond DeShields, flashed her scoring ability early on with nine points in the first period.

The Aces ran away with the game in the second quarter. Las Vegas scored 32 points as it blew by the Sky who couldn’t get it together on offense. Chicago went 6-15 from the field while going 1-7 from beyond the arc. Vegas went into halftime with a 49-37 lead after a Kelsey Plum hit a contested midrange shot on the baseline with 2.9 seconds left.

The Sky didn’t come out of the locker room with any extra energy as it would get outscored 27-14 in the third quarter. At the seven-minute mark, it seemed as though the Sky could have clawed its way back into the game when Williams scored five points in 17 seconds to make it 58-50.

Then newly elected all-star Kayla McBride stepped up.

McBride responded to Williams’ surge by hitting a three in transition a minute later before finding her stroke again from deep on the next possession. She officially broke the game open when she hit her third three-pointer of the quarter with 3:14 remaining to make it 69-48.

The Sky couldn’t get rebounds in the fourth quarter as they would eventually lose 98-74. The game was another example of the Sky not finding its footing on offense outside of DeShields. Chicago didn’t take advantage of a rare silent scoring night from Wilson, who is now making a case for both the rookie of the year and MVP honors.

The Sky’s will face the Mystics on July 13 in Washington while the Aces go against the Lynx in Minnesota the same night.