Las Vegas Aces vs Connecticut Sun - WNBA Game 38 - 2026 | Sun-Shining

Aces Send the Sun Off in Style, Rolling to a 101-78 Win Behind Jackie Young’s 24

The Las Vegas Aces sent the Connecticut Sun out of town with a beating, rolling to a 101-78 win on Thursday night in the Sun’s final visit to Las Vegas before the franchise relocates to Houston. Vegas improved to 25-13, while Connecticut dropped to 9-26. It was tight at the break, a one-point Aces lead, and then the home team simply took over the second half. Jackie Young scored a game-high 24 points, grabbed 7 rebounds and handed out a game-best-tying 5 assists. A’ja Wilson chipped in 20 points on a night stuffed with milestones, and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus came off the bench for season highs of 18 points and 9 boards. Every Ace who checked in found the scoring column. The Aces controlled the paint, feasted on Connecticut turnovers, and pulled away with a decisive third-quarter surge that turned a one-possession game into a runaway no one in the building doubted. Once the third quarter arrived, the reigning WNBA champs looked every bit the part, and by the fourth, this one was over.

Game Summary: Las Vegas Aces vs Connecticut Sun

First Quarter

The two teams traded blows early, and through the opening three minutes Connecticut actually held an 8-7 edge. Then the turnovers started. A pair of Sun giveaways let the Aces reel off the next 6 points as part of a 14-3 burst that pushed Las Vegas in front 21-11 and forced Connecticut to regroup. The visitors answered with 5 straight to slow the bleeding, but Young had the last word in the period, scoring 4 in a row to make it 25-16 with exactly a minute to play.

Young was everywhere in the opening ten minutes, leading all scorers with 11 points on a quarter when the Aces hit 10 of 21 (.476) from the floor. The one soft spot was the perimeter, where Las Vegas managed just 1 of 6 from 3-point range. Connecticut, for its part, shot the ball beautifully in the first quarter, connecting on 10 of 18 (.556) overall and 2 of 5 from deep.

Charlisse Leger-Walker chipped in 7 to give the Aces a second scoring threat, and Wilson went to work inside as the hosts leaned on their size advantage. The Sun closed on an 8-0 spurt, sparked by an and-1, while the Aces missed twice and coughed the ball up once, trimming the deficit to 25-24 at the horn.

Second Quarter

The opening period belonged to the Aces; the second was more back-and-forth than Aaliyah. Connecticut came out sharp and outscored Las Vegas 11-6 across the first four minutes to grab a 35-31 lead, its biggest cushion of the night. The Aces did not flinch. They ripped off a 10-2 run to retake control at 41-37, only for a Sun triple to cut it to 41-40 and keep everyone honest. Las Vegas responded again, this time with a 7-0 spurt that stretched the margin to 48-40 and briefly threatened to break the game open.

Olivia Nelson-Ododa was the steadying force for Connecticut, pouring in 9 of her 14 points in the period to keep the visitors within range. The Aces offense was democratic to a fault here: six different players scored, none of them reaching more than 5, with Young, Wilson and Parker-Tyus among those taking turns.

That balance is a luxury when the shots are falling, but Las Vegas went cold from outside, misfiring on all four of its 3-point tries and settling for 8 of 20 (.400) overall. Connecticut, meanwhile, stayed scorching at 7 of 12 (.583) and drilled 2 of 4 from deep, closing the quarter on a 7-0 push of its own to draw within 48-47 at the break. This was anybody’s game.

Third Quarter

The third quarter is where the Aces buried the Sun, and it did not take long. Connecticut nudged back ahead 52-50 in the opening minutes, the last time it would lead all night. Then Jackie Young took the game over. She drilled three triples during a decisive 16-0 run, and while Las Vegas was piling up points, the Sun went ice cold, missing all five of its shots during the stretch. When the dust settled, the Aces owned a 66-52 lead midway through the period, and Michelob ULTRA Arena was rocking. The building sensed the knockout coming.

To their credit, the visitors did not roll over, outscoring Las Vegas 11-9 the rest of the way, but they never seriously threatened, pulling no closer than nine. Young and Wilson did the heavy lifting with 9 points apiece in the quarter, while nobody from Connecticut managed more than 5. Nelson-Ododa could not recapture the rhythm that fueled her second quarter, and the Sun’s offense sputtered to 5 of 16 (.312) shooting and 2 of 7 (.286) from behind the arc.

The Aces, by contrast, kept humming at 10 of 21 (.476) overall while finally finding their outside stroke, burying 4 of 8 from deep. A one-point halftime nailbiter had become a 75-63 cushion in the span of ten minutes, and Connecticut was out of answers.

Fourth Quarter

The fourth quarter was a formality, really, and the Aces treated it like a chance to empty the tank. Connecticut managed the first 2 points of the period but never got any closer. Las Vegas answered with 12 unanswered points to balloon the lead to 87-65, and from there it was garbage time with a running clock.

The Aces were efficient down the stretch, shooting a scorching 69.2% (9-for-13) from the floor and knocking down 4 of 7 from deep; that’s how this went from a comfortable win into a rout. The Sun, by contrast, ran out of gas, going 7 of 18 (.389) and missing all six of their 3-point looks in the period.

Jewell Loyd and Mai Yamamoto led the way with 7 points apiece off the bench, a reminder of how deep this Las Vegas roster runs even on a night when the starters did most of the damage. No Connecticut player reached more than 4 in the quarter. A’ja Wilson, already stuffing the stat sheet, added the finishing touches on a 20-point night loaded with history. By the time the benches cleared, the only question left was the final margin, and the Aces kept pressing until the buzzer. When the final horn sounded, it read 101-78, a 23-point beatdown that never felt close after halftime.

Bottom Line

Bottom line: this was the kind of night that reminds everyone why the Aces are the class of the league. The margins that mattered were lopsided. Las Vegas turned 19 Connecticut giveaways into 28 points, tying its season high for points off turnovers, owned the paint 50 to 40, and dominated the glass 40 to 23. Add a tidy 18 of 22 (.818) from the free-throw line and a second-half three-point barrage (1 of 10 before the break became 8 of 15 after it) and you have the blueprint for a 23-point win. The milestones piled up, too.

Wilson, who has now played 302 games for Las Vegas, the most in franchise history, notched her 28th 20-point game of the season to tie Tina Charles for second-most in league history at 190, trailing only Diana Taurasi. Wilson has also reached double figures in a league-leading 59 straight games and needs just 92 more points for her second 1,000-point season.

Las Vegas did all of this without Dana Evans, out with a leg injury, a reminder of how much firepower this roster carries. Young was terrific again, topping 20 for the 19th time this year and the 76th time in her career. Loyd climbed the all-time three-point list, and Chelsea Gray moved into seventh on the franchise scoring chart. The century mark made it 11 hundred-point games this season, matching the 2023 club for the most in Aces history, and the 65th straight sellout crowd got to soak it all in.

TOP PERFORMERS

TEAM STATS

Points in the Paint: LVA 50, CON 40 | Second Chance: LVA 13, CON 14 | Fast Break: LVA 6, CON 16 | Off Turnovers: LVA 28, CON 17 | Bench: LVA 39, CON 30

Next up: Next up, the Aces head north of the border to Vancouver, British Columbia, for their second regular-season meeting with the Toronto Tempo as part of the Tempo’s Cross Canada series. Tip-off from Rogers Arena is set for 4 p.m. and airs locally on The Spot-Vegas 34.

Franchise Sports Media. Las Vegas sports news about Las Vegas Sports teams.

— TQ (@tqthetrojan) for Franchise Sports Media

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