MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A’ja Wilson had her 15th double-double with 23 points and 15 rebounds and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Seattle Storm 79-63 Thursday night to match the WNBA record for the best start to a season.
The Aces improved to 20-2 and matched the 1998 Houston Comets and 2016 Los Angeles Sparks for the finest opening to a season. Las Vegas improved to 3-0 against the Storm (4-17), who lost their eighth straight. The Aces won their first two games against Seattle by 41 and 33 points.
Jackie Young scored 22 points and Kelsey Plumb 20 for the Aces, who were held below 80 points for just the third time this season. They lost the other games.
Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor had 12 points apiece and Jordan Horston added 11 for the Storm.
LYNX 73, SPARKS 70
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Napheesa Collier scored eight points in a late 12-0 run and finished with 22 points as Minnesota defeated Los Angeles.
Collier scored 10 of her points in the fourth quarter as the Lynx (10-12) won despite squandering a 20-point lead and completed a season sweep of Los Angeles (7-14), which matched a franchise record with its seventh straight loss.
Rookies Dorka Juhasz and Diamond Miller played key roles in the win. Juhasz scored a career-high 16 points on 7-for-10 shooting and grabbed 10 rebounds. Miller added 13 points, a career-high nine assists and eight rebounds.
Nneka Ogwumike led the Sparks with 19 points. Lexie Brown, back in the lineup after missing more than a month, scored 13 points off the bench.
SUN 82, DREAM 71
UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — Natisha Hiedeman scored 20 of her career-high 24 points in the third quarter, Alyssa Thomas had 12 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists and Connecticut snapped Atlanta’s seven-game winning streak.
Rebecca Allen and DeWanna Bonner each scored 13 points for Connecticut (16-6). Bonner moved into eighth on the WNBA’s career scoring list, passing Candace Parker (6,574). Thomas became the 34th player in WNBA history to reach 1,000 career assists.
Rhyne Howard scored 22 points and Allisha Gray had 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists for Atlanta (12-9). Nia Coffey added 13 points and 13 rebounds.
MERCURY 80, SKY 62
PHOENIX (AP) — Reserve Shey Peddy hit five 3-pointers and scored a season-high 20 points as Phoenix beat Chicago to win consecutive games for the first time this season.
Brittney Griner had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Megan Gustafson added 12 points and fellow reserve Shug Sutton scored 11 for the the Mercury (6-15), who got 45 points from their bench players. Phoenix was coming off a win over Connecticut on Tuesday.
Kahleah Copper scored 17 points for the Sky (8-13).