After a dominant 95-81 win over the New York Liberty on Friday night, the Las Vegas Aces forced a Game 4 in their WNBA semifinals matchup.
The Liberty, who were up 2-0 prior to Friday night’s loss, were hoping to sweep the series with a third win and move on to the WNBA Finals. Las Vegas had other plans, starting off the first quarter strong, which would set the tone for the rest of the game.
Las Vegas guard Jackie Young led the way for the Aces with 24 points, followed by guard Kelsey Plum, who put up 20 points. Young was an immediate spark for Las Vegas from the get-go, accumulating 10 first-quarter points. Liberty forward Breanna Stewart also had a superb first quarter scoring seven points, not missing a single attempt from the field. Despite the addition of 11 bench points for the Liberty, they still trailed by the end of the first quarter 26-23.
The second quarter saw more offensive involvement from New York, including Liberty forward Betnijah Laney-Hamilton adding 7 points and rookie Leonie Fiebich with 7 as well. It wasn’t enough to outscore the strong offense of the Aces in this second quarter, as it looked like they found a rhythm that they hadn’t had in game 1 or 2. Aces center and league MVP A’Ja Wilson played the entire first half for Las Vegas, making sure that her team would have a fighting chance in this possible elimination game as she added 13 points by halftime. New York trailed once again 53-49 at the end of the second quarter.
Before the third quarter began, this game had been mostly close throughout the first half, with a very competitive performance on both ends of the court. There had been 18 lead changes, and neither team had more than a four-point lead. But that all changed in the third quarter when the Aces came out of halftime, overpowering both defensively and offensively.
With an improvement in the Aces’ defense for this game 3, Las Vegas managed to completely stop New York’s offense in the third quarter. The Liberty had 12 straight misses and went around eight minutes without scoring. New York’s offense struggled to get any easy shots off due to the intensity of the Aces defense, which forced six turnovers for the Liberty in that third quarter. Las Vegas went on a 17-0 run, eventually out-scoring New York 21-6 in the third.
Las Vegas guard Chelsea Gray was doing it all for the Aces in this game. Between sharing the ball in style, scoring, and playing tenacious defense, she played a huge factor in their win. Gray ended the game with 10 points, seven assists, and two blocks.
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Meanwhile, Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu struggled tremendously, not scoring her first point until the start of the fourth quarter. Ionescu ended the game with just four points in total, going 1-for-7 from the field. Although Stewart had a quality first quarter, she also struggled, specifically in the second half of the game. It’s been a pattern in this Liberty postseason for one of the members of the Liberty’s big three to have a strong scoring performance in each game, but no one had a scoring showdown Friday night for New York.
Wilson had a double-double for Las Vegas, putting up 19 points and 14 rebounds. She played a crucial role in improving the Aces’ defense in Game 3. As one of the best rim protectors in the league, averaging 2.6 blocks per game in the regular season, she truly showed that tonight. New York had a tougher time getting into the paint and finding the open lane partly due to how well Wilson was switching onto players and contesting shots that came toward the rim.
Liberty went down double-digits in the third quarter very quickly and never managed to make a comeback. Las Vegas continued to dominate in the fourth quarter, with everything clicking offensively for them. Eventually, with around five minutes left to go, Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello pulled most of her starters from the game, knowing that a comeback was unlikely at that point.
Despite the Liberty’s poor performance on Friday night, New York will look to bounce back and close out the series in Game 4, which will be Sunday at 3 p.m. ET.
