The Aces host the Phoenix Mercury at 5 p.m. Sunday at Mandalay Bay Events Center, with the game televised on ATT SportsNet.
Sam Gordon
Reporter
Email: sgordon@reviewjournal.com
X: @BySamGordon
Sam Gordon was born and raised in Minneapolis and is back for his second stint with the Review-Journal. He’s covered the NFL, NBA, the Big Ten, the Mountain West and prep sports for various publications during his professional tenure. Gordon, a University of Minnesota graduate, is a basketball junkie who coached high school basketball for three seasons.
The silky, 6-foot-7-inch wing left Las Vegas on Friday for Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he’ll compete alongside 29 of the nation’s best players for 12 spots on USA Basketball’s under-17 team.
The Aces are 2-1 on their four-game trip and will try to end it with a victory over the Wings, who defeated Las Vegas in the preseason.
Zach Collins returned home Tuesday to join his former AAU program, Vegas Elite, in hosting his first basketball camp at a YMCA, where he flourished as a teenager while starring at Bishop Gorman.
The Aces (1-6) begin their four-game, eight-day road trip with a doozy of an opponent, against whom they’ll try and reverse their fortunes.
The Aces (1-6) tumbled into an 18-point third-quarter deficit, and couldn’t overcome the brilliance of Dream duo Angel McCoughtry and Tiffany Hayes at Mandalay Bay Events Center on Friday afternoon.
Aces producer Chris Withers began working with the MGM in January and spent the past five months assembling a team of talent and engineers equipped to optimize the viewing experience at the time of the launch.
The No. 1 overall pick in this year’s WNBA draft is starting to have her way with defenders and, after using the first two games to adjust to the speed of professional basketball, is growing into one the toughest covers in the league.
Aces forward Dearica Hamby played sparingly in the WNBA team’s first four games, but since has emerged as a viable scoring option with 38 points in 36 minutes in her past two games.
Aces coach Bill Laimbeer said he implemented new defensive coverages before the team’s 85-73 victory over the Washington Mystics on Friday at Mandalay Bay Events Center.
It took four games, but the Aces finally figured it out. A little defense goes a long way.
ATT SportsNet will broadcast 15 of the team’s 17 home games, and all 17 regular-season home games and playoff games will air live on Las Vegas ESPN radio affiliates KWWN-AM (1100) and KWWN-FM (100.9).
The Aces left Las Vegas for Seattle on Thursday, and, like every other team in the WNBA, will begin to confront the brunt of a schedule condensed by the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup, which runs Sept. 22 to 30.
Lindsay Allen was cut by the New York Liberty on May 17 and signed with the Aces later that day to assume primary ball-handling duties while incumbent starter Moriah Jefferson recovers from a knee injury.