Aces five-game winning streak ends in Minnesota

Kelsey Plum didn’t want to lament the final defensive possession of the Aces’ 90-89 loss Friday night to the Minnesota Lynx.

“It’s tough. We thought ‘Maybe we foul, but we don’t want to put them on the line,’” she said after scoring 15 and keying a rally. “You could always go back and say what you would have done or could have done. Honestly, we shouldn’t have let it get to that point.’

Las Vegas erased a nine-point deficit late in regulation at the Target Center in Minneapolis, but fell in overtime to end its five-game winning streak. Faced with a three-second differential between the shot and game clocks, the Aces elected not to foul — allowing Lynx guard Layshia Clarendon to shoot a 3-pointer as the shot clock expired.

Minnesota center Sylvia Fowles tipped the ball out to the perimeter and the game clock expired without Las Vegas having an opportunity to tie the game or take the lead.

“We felt like we wanted to play defense and get a stop. We did get the stop. We just didn’t get the rebound,” said Aces coach Bill Laimbeer. “We thought it was our best opportunity to go that method. It just didn’t work out.”

Laimbeer was concerned that the Aces (10-4) would lack energy after an eight-day layoff, but that didn’t seem to be an issue in the early goings. A’ja Wilson willed her way to the basket and the free-throw line en route to 19 first-half points and a 48-44 halftime lead. But the tempo slowed in the second half and with it, the Aces’ offense.

Minnesota (7-7) exaggerated its help defense and crowded Wilson and teammate Liz Cambage, who battled her way to 18 points and a career-high 20 rebounds against Lynx center Sylvia Fowles. But Fowles was also impressive, posting 30 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, four steals and four blocks while patrolling the paint on both ends of the floor.

Her dominance coupled with Napheesa Collier’s savvy play helped the Lynx secure an 82-73 lead with 3:11 to play. Yet the Aces flexed their grit with a timely 9-0 run. Plum scored seven straight points at the rim and free-throw line and Wilson made two free throws to tie the game with two seconds left.

She finished with 28 points, 14 rebounds and four steals.

Overtime, though, belonged to Minnesota and Clarendon, who scored or assisted on three of her team’s baskets in the extra session.

“I’ll take part of the blame down the stretch,” said Laimbeer. “Didn’t get us into good some sets. Probably should have used an extra timeout. … We lost. Onto the next game. Just one game in the season.”

The Aces welcome the defending WNBA champion Seattle Storm to Michelob Ultra Arena for a Sunday matinee. They split their first two meetings, both of which were played in Seattle.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.