Wilson’s huge night wasted in Aces’ tight loss to Wings

There weren’t many silver linings in the Aces’ 93-90 loss to the Dallas Wings on Tuesday at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas.

The game came down to the wire after the Aces had as much as a 13-point lead, ending with A’ja Wilson missing a 3-pointer with a tenth of a second on the clock. The attempt came after the two-time WNBA MVP saved the Aces with a buzzer-beater Sunday in a 77-75 win over the Chicago Sky.

Before the final play Tuesday, Wilson exploded for 42 points, six rebounds and three blocks. It was the highest-scoring performance in the WNBA this season and the third 40-point game of her career. She joins Diana Taurasi (four), Breanna Stewart (four) and Maya Moore (three) as the only players to notch more than two games with 40 points.

It was a tough shooting night for the Aces (18-12), who went 5-for-19 (26.3 percent) from the 3-point line.

Aces guards Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray reached double figures, contributing 17 and 15 points, respectively.

Satou Sabally had 28 points for the Wings (8-22), while Natasha Howard added 24 points. Both of them were out with injuries in the Aces’ two previous decisive wins over the Wings earlier this season.

The Aces are now back to the No. 5 spot in the league’s standings, a half-game behind the Seattle Storm.

Here are three takeaways from the Aces’ fifth loss in the last seven games:

1. Not about final play

Aces coach Becky Hammon said she was “furious” at the team’s second-half defense and concerned about the closing effort — nothing she hasn’t said multiple times this season.

The Aces got off to a 21-8 lead in the first quarter. After putting up just 17 points in the second quarter, they were outscored 32-21 in the final frame.

Aces veteran forward Alysha Clark fouled Sabally as she made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 79 midway through fourth quarter.

The Aces didn’t score a field goal in the last two minutes of the game. Arike Ogunbowale made two free throws with 35.8 seconds left to give the Wings a 91-90 lead. Young missed a midrange jumper, and Sabally made two more free throws with 12.6 left for the final score.

After the game, Gray interrupted a question about Wilson missing the final shot.

“Honestly, it didn’t come down to that,” she said. “We got A’ja shooting the basketball at the 3-point line. I’m confident in that. But I mean, we go down the stretch, and our fourth quarter just killed us. They scored 32 points on us in the fourth quarter. So don’t even go to that last possession, for real.”

2. Rotation woes

Hammon has been rotating through the fifth starting spot outside of her “Core Four” of Wilson, Gray, Young and Kelsey Plum. She gave Megan Gustafson her second consecutive start of the season Tuesday, and she came out of the game without a point or rebound in 11 minutes. Hammon noted Clark didn’t have a rebound in 22 minutes either. The Aces were outrebounded 40-26 overall.

“It didn’t really matter who I put in there. Big, we got handled. Small, we got handled,” Hammon said. “We didn’t defend, we fouled and we didn’t rebound, and we shot the 3 terrible again. So it’s a bad combination. … Some of those things are in our control. Some of them aren’t.”

3. COVID-19 concerns?

After the loss, the Aces might have a larger issue. On Tuesday, Sky guard Chennedy Carter was ruled out of the team’s next game due to the WNBA’s health and safety protocols.

The Sky reportedly canceled practice and took COVID-19 tests before ruling Carter out because multiple players were feeling sick. The U.S. is in its largest COVID surge since January, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

When asked pregame if the Aces were required to test since they were recently in close proximity to the Sky, Hammon said it was the first she was hearing about any illness. Hopefully for the Aces, they will be able to avoid the virus.

Contact Callie Lawson-Freeman at clawsonfreeman@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.