A’ja Wilson scored 29 points in Sunday’s Las Vegas Aces game against the Connecticut Sun to become the first WNBA player to score 1,000 points in a season.
Wilson reached the milestone with a pull-up from his elbow with two minutes left in the game. Earlier this week, the Aces star broke Jewell Loyd’s single-season points record set last year. Las Vegas called a timeout about 30 seconds later, and Wilson’s teammates surrounded him.
She then walked out onto the court to a thunderous ovation from the crowd.
The Aces (25-13) are one game behind Seattle for the No. 4 seed in the playoffs and home-court advantage in the series. Las Vegas has won seven of its last eight games.
Connecticut (27-11) is two games behind the Minnesota Lynx for the No. 2 seed. The teams meet on Tuesday in Connecticut.
The Suns were 4-of-16 from the field and 0-of-5 from 3-point range in the third quarter, and the Aces led by eight at halftime but stretched it to 71-51 going into the fourth. Young’s pull-up jumper midway through the quarter made it 58-47, and Las Vegas held a double-digit lead the rest of the way. Wilson was dominant defensively and defensively, hitting 6-of-8 from the field and two from 3-point range to go with 14 points, four rebounds and two blocks in the third quarter.
Marina Mabry led the Sun with 18 points. Breonna Jones had 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and nine rebounds, and Tayshia Harris added 16 points.
Jones is averaging 20.1 points on 66 percent shooting (59-of-89) through seven games in September.
Kelsey Plum, who finished with 14 points, put the Aces up by five with a 3-pointer that sparked an 11-1 run and a step-back jump shot to close out the first half that made it 48-40.
WNBA reporter Christina Williams spoke with two-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson to discuss how she’s redefining success, from her Aces championship run to the 2024 Paris Olympics.