A’ja Wilson dominates as US women beat Japan 102-76 to open campaign for 8th straight Olympic gold

A’ja Wilson had 26 points and 16 rebounds, Kelsey Plum added 18 points and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Connecticut Sun 85-74 on Friday night, their seventh win in the last nine meetings between the teams including the 2022 WNBA Finals.

It was Wilson's fourth game this season with 25-plus points and 15-plus rebounds — one shy of Tina Charles' WNBA record of five, set in 2021. Wilson also reached 20-plus points for the 19th straight regular-season game.

Las Vegas (8-6) has won two straight for the first time since May 29. Connecticut (13-2), which was off to its best 14-game start in franchise history, lost for the first time in six road contests this season.

Las Vegas' double-digit lead was trimmed to seven points midway through the third quarter, but the Aces closed on a 9-3 run for a 63-50 lead. They opened the fourth on a 7-3 run to make it 70-53.

Alysha Clark added 11 points off the bench for Las Vegas. Kiah Stokes grabbed 10 rebounds to help the Aces dominate the glass 42-29.

DiJonai Carrington scored 11 of her 19 points in the third quarter and Brionna Jones added 18 for Connecticut. Alyssa Thomas, who was called for her fourth foul with 3:27 left in the third, finished with six points and seven assists. DeWanna Bonner, averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game, was held to six points on 2-of-10 shooting.

Jones and Tyasha Harris were the only two Connecticut players to score in the first quarter as the Sun trailed 20-16. Jones scored 11 points in the opening 10 minutes but didn’t score in the second quarter. The Aces extended their lead to 45-28 by halftime.