SEATTLE (AP) — Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum both scored 23 points, and the Las Vegas Aces opened the defence of their WNBA championship with a 105-64 win over the Seattle Storm on Saturday.
The rematch of last year's WNBA semifinal series won by the Aces in four games on their way to the title featured several changes and absences from that playoff series.
Most notable, Las Vegas was without head coach Becky Hammon following her two-game suspension by the league earlier this week following an investigation into former Aces player Dearica Hamby saying she had been bullied and manipulated for being pregnant.
Hammon denied that Hamby was bullied for being pregnant, saying any ill feelings between the two came from Hamby being traded.
But the Aces didn't miss a beat without their head coach on the sideline. Acting head coach Tyler Marsh just had to decide which combinations of the Aces star-studded roster to call upon, all under the watchful and approving eye of owner Mark Davis looking on from his baseline seat.
WINGS 85, DREAM 78
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale scored 20 of her 27 points as Dallas built a 17-point halftime lead and the Wings beat the Dream.
Satou Sabally added 25 points and Natasha Howard had 20 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocks for Dallas. Howard, a three-time WNBA champion and the league's 2019 defensive player of the year, was acquired in a trade in January.
Ogunbowale scored 12 points — including the final 10 — in a 19-0 run that made it 33-18 when she hit a 3-pointer to cap the spurt with about six minutes left in the first half.
Allisha Gray converted a three-point play that trimmed Atlanta's deficit to 81-78 with 1:04 to play — the closest the Dream had been since the first quarter — but Veronica Burton and Sabally each made two free throws from there to cap the scoring.
Rhyne Howard had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Dream, but made just 8 of 24 from the field.
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.