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Aces edge out win against Mercury
Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

Aces edge out win against Mercury

Originally posted on Dice City Sports
By Trevis Dampier Jr  |  Last updated 5/15/24

On Tuesday, the Las Vegas Aces hosted the 2024 opening night against the Phoenix Mercury and squeezed out with a win.

Tightly Contested Win

Las Vegas will begin the season undefeated after battling against Phoenix for all four quarters. Big minutes were expected out of all of the stars due to the tight contest.

Alysha Clark, A’Ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young all played over 34 minutes in this matchup. In this game, there were five lead changes and three ties which mostly took place during the second half.

The Aces took an 18-point lead during the first quarter, but the Mercury showed resilience as they climbed their way back into contention.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Las Vegas only led by four with a score of 68 to 64. Guard, Jackie Young was the main contributor during the last quarter as she scored nine points alone.

On the opposing side with Diana Taurasi, Kahleah Cooper, and Sophie Cunningham all contributing to shrink the lead of the Aces down. Phoenix did not exert nearly as much playing time as their minutes leader, Natasha Cloud did not reach 34 minutes.

Box Score

There are not many discrepancies in the team box scores between both clubs. For Phoenix, their points off turnovers leads with 23 compared to the Aces’ 10. However, the Aces had six less team turnovers with only nine compared to fifteen.

Leading scorers for the Aces were A’Ja Wilson with 30 points, Jackie Young with 23 points, and Kelsey Plum with 19. For Mercury, Diana Taurasi led the club with 23 points and Kahleah Cooper had 19.

Brittney Griner not being able to perform may have had an impact on this game. It took a team rebounding effort in order to maintain competition.

Aces will now look forward to their next matchup Saturday against the Los Angeles Sparks.

Trevis Dampier Jr is a writer for Dice City Sports. You can follow him on X @trevisjay_

This article first appeared on Dice City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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