Two-time defending champions Las Vegas Aces have kept their season alive with a 95-81 victory over the visiting New York Liberty in Game 3 of their WNBA semi-final series.
A’ja Wilson had 19 points and 14 rebounds and Jackie Young added 24 points on Saturday, as the Aces extended their home playoff winning streak to a WNBA-record 12 games.
Wilson’s double-double was the 20th of her career in the playoffs.
“It felt like us,” Wilson said. “It was just a matter of time before it all started clicking, but we have to sustain this. This was just one game. This is really nothing. We have to continue to go and grow as we try to go to the next level.”
Game 4 of the best-of-five series will be on Sunday in Las Vegas, with the Liberty enjoying a 2-1 lead in the series.
Breanna Stewart scored 19 points, while Jonquel Jones added 11 for the Liberty, who lost for the first time in five playoff games this year.
The Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu, who averaged 24.5 points over the first four playoff games, was held scoreless through three quarters and finished with four points on one-of-seven shooting.
Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said of the Aces: “They came out and played the way that they should play. They were competing, they had urgency, they gave Sabrina very little space.”
Wilson played all 20 minutes of the first half.
“You can’t sit down in a game like this. This is an elimination game,” she said on ESPN. “I cannot sit down. That looks like quitting to me.
“I knew I had to come in and be who I needed to be for my team out of the gate and made sure we understood what we needed to do at home.”
In Uncasville, Napheesa Collier scored 26 points as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Connecticut Sun 90-81 to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-five series
Game 4 is on Sunday in Connecticut with the Lynx looking to advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2017.
Collier, who averaged just 14 points in the first two games of the series, had 16 in the first half in Game 3.
The runner-up for league MVP was aggressive from the start. Minnesota led by seven after one quarter and 48-36 at the half thanks to Collier, who made seven of her 10 shots in the opening 20 minutes.
The Sun tried to rally, cutting the deficit to seven on a three-point play by Marina Mabrey midway through the third quarter. But that’s as close as they got.
Brionna Jones, who had just eight points combined in the first two games, led Connecticut with 21.
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