Las Vegas Aces vs Indiana Fever - WNBA Playoffs - Round 1 - Game 1 - 2026 | Aces Break The Fever

Aces Break the Fever, 102-85: A’ja Wilson’s 38 and 16 Opens the Quarterfinals

A’ja Wilson collected her third straight Associated Press WNBA Player of the Year award on Sunday morning, then spent the afternoon passing out receipts. Wilson poured in 38 points with 16 rebounds, 4 blocks and 2 steals on 15 of 19 shooting, and the Las Vegas Aces opened the quarterfinals with a 102-85 win over the Indiana Fever at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

Jackie Young added 21 points and 10 assists, Chelsea Gray chipped in 14 points and 8 assists, and Jewell Loyd gave the second unit 10. Las Vegas shot 59.4 percent from the floor, turned 17 Indiana turnovers into 28 points, and led by 27 at one point. Aliyah Boston led the Fever with 18 points while playing through a lower leg injury, and Caitlin Clark finished with 15 points and 10 assists. Five Indiana players reached double figures. None of them had an answer for No. 22, though. It’s the playoffs. You know A’ja was ballin’.

Game Summary: Las Vegas Aces vs Indiana Fever

First Quarter

Wilson set the tone on Indiana’s first possession by swatting a Boston 6-footer. Makayla Timpson put the Fever on the board with a putback at 9:01, but the Aces answered with six straight: a pair of Gray pull-ups wrapped around a Wilson jumper, two of them set up by Young.

From there it turned into a shootout. Young and Clark traded threes, Stephanie Talbot buried one from 23 feet, and Lexie Hull answered from 22 to tie it 12-12. Kelsey Mitchell scored twice in the paint, and Indiana led 16-14 at 3:55.

That lead lasted 23 seconds. Sophie Cunningham was whistled for a flagrant 1 on Gray at 3:32, and it kicked off a 10-0 Las Vegas run. Gray split the free throws; A’ja Wilson scored on a drive and then blocked a Clark layup at the other end; Loyd splashed a 27-foot running three; and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus scored on back-to-back layups to make it 24-16 at 2:01.

Cunningham answered with two straight running threes, both off Clark assists, to pull Indiana to 24-22. Wilson responded with a fadeaway and-one at 45.8 seconds; Parker-Tyus blocked a Mitchell drive, and it was 27-23 after one. Wilson had 9 in the quarter, and the Aces shot 57.9 percent. Indiana was not going to win this game trading threes for layups.

Second Quarter

The second quarter opened tight. Chelsea Gray hit two mid-range jumpers, a Caitlin Clark 26-footer tied it 31-31, and after a Wilson step-back, Boston banked in a 26-foot three at 7:47 to put the Fever up 34-33. Enjoy that one, Indiana. It was the Fever’s last lead of the afternoon.

Gray was fouled on a three-point try on the next trip and calmly made all three at 7:32. Raven Johnson tied it at 36, but A’ja Wilson hit a turnaround and a putback, and after two Hull free throws the Aces led 40-38.

Then the Aces put their foot down. Young hit a pull-up, Loyd turned a steal into a running layup, Wilson rejected Timpson at the rim, and Mai Yamamoto knocked down a 15-footer for the first playoff points of her career. Jackie Young capped the 9-0 run with a 25-foot three right after a steal of her own, and Las Vegas led 49-38 at 4:30, for their first double-digit lead.

Indiana cut it to 9 three different times but never got closer. Young buried a three for 54-42, Wilson stepped out and hit from 26 feet, and Loyd drilled a three with 23 seconds left. Las Vegas shot 72.2 percent in the quarter, won it 35-24, and led 62-47 at the half, with Wilson already at 22 points on 9 of 11 shooting.

Third Quarter

If Indiana had a halftime plan, it did not survive four minutes. The Fever opened the second half 1 of 10 from the field, and their one early make was a Boston three at 8:59 that cut it to 62-50. Talbot answered with a 20-footer to start a 9-0 Las Vegas run, and A’ja Wilson blocked a Hull pull-up at the other end.

Parker-Tyus knocked down a three off a Young assist, and Young added a floater and two free throws to make it 71-50 at 4:51. Indiana went 4:26 without a point, and the lead never dipped under 19 the rest of the quarter.

Then Wilson went cooking. She grabbed back-to-back offensive rebounds and converted the and-one at 4:05, hit a 24-foot three off a Gray pass, then scored again from 10 feet to make it 79-55. When Parker-Tyus picked a pocket and Jackie Young finished a running layup at 1:32, the Aces led 85-58, their biggest cushion of the day at 27.

The Fever closed with some cosmetic scoring. Clark hit a three and a floater, Johnson scored 5 late, and it was 86-65 heading to the fourth. The Aces shot 57.1 percent and won the quarter 24-18, with Wilson leading everybody again with 8. At that point Indiana needed a miracle, and nobody in the building was handing one out.

Fourth Quarter

Indiana came out of the break firing. Aliyah Boston hit a three off a Mitchell assist, Mitchell followed with one of her own at 8:25, and suddenly it was 86-71, a 15-point game. That was as close as the Fever would get. Becky Hammon called a timeout and challenged a call at 8:06. The call stood, but the pause did its job.

Wilson went right back to work. She hit a 17-footer and converted the and-one, scored on a layup off a Talbot pass, found Young for a running layup, and finished another Talbot assist from 2 feet. That 9-2 burst took 1:48, pushed the lead back to 95-73, and forced an Indiana timeout at 5:44.

The rest was bench minutes and free throws. Cunningham made four from the line, Monique Billings scored twice in the paint, and the Fever won the quarter 20-16. The Aces missed all three of their threes and shot 46.2 percent, which is what a fourth quarter looks like when the game was decided in the third.

Young pushed the Aces into triple digits with a running layup at 2:08, and Yamamoto added a 13-footer for the 102-85 final. A’ja Wilson had 8 more in the fourth. No Indiana player scored more than 4 in the quarter.

Bottom Line

The bottom line: this is what the No. 3 seed is supposed to look like against the No. 6. Las Vegas shot 59.4 percent, won the points-off-turnovers battle 28-18 with 17 giveaways apiece, and blocked 6 shots to Indiana’s zero. The Fever’s bench outscored the Aces’ 33-21, with Johnson going for 14 on 6 of 7, but the Aces’ starters had too much firepower.

Wilson is too much for anybody. It was just the fourth playoff game in WNBA history with at least 35 points, 15 rebounds and 4 blocks, and she owns two of them. Lisa Leslie and Breanna Stewart have the other two. Her 27th career playoff double-double tied Tamika Catchings and Candace Parker, and her 560 postseason rebounds make her just the fifth player in league history past 550.

Gray became the 12th player in postseason history to reach 900 points and moved into second on the all-time playoff assists list, behind only Alyssa Thomas. Young logged the third playoff double-double of her career and climbed to No. 10 in playoff assists. The Aces did all of it without Dana Evans (right knee).

The series moves to Indianapolis for Game 2 on Tuesday. The Fever took two of three from Las Vegas in the regular season, so nobody should be booking semifinal travel yet. Win Tuesday and the Aces advance. Lose, and it comes back to Michelob ULTRA Arena for a Game 3 on Thursday.

Post-Game

Hammon did not need long to sum up her star’s afternoon: “She was a clinic tonight. She was all over the court on the defensive end, the offensive end, blocked shots, boards, scoring. I mean there was nothing she couldn’t do tonight.”

Wilson, talking with ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the game, kept it simple: “It’s my job, Holly. It’s what I do. I don’t take a minute on this court for granted, so when I come out I try to be the best that I can be and allow my teammates to do themselves as well and allow them to be their best.”

On the other side, Clark gave Indiana’s defense an “F” and said, “Our actions were sloppy.” (Quotes via the Associated Press and ESPN.)

TOP PERFORMERS

TEAM STATS

Points in the Paint: LVA 34, IND 36 | Second Chance: LVA 7, IND 5 | Fast Break: LVA 14, IND 15 | Off Turnovers: LVA 28, IND 18 | Bench: LVA 21, IND 33

Next up: Game 2 of the best-of-three quarterfinals is Tuesday, Sept. 29, in Indianapolis. Tip is 3:30 p.m. PT on Prime. Game 3, if necessary, is Thursday, Oct. 1, at Michelob ULTRA Arena (tip time TBD).

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

— TQ (@tqthetrojan) for Franchise Sports Media

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