Down 2-0 the Aces needed a win Sunday afternoon to keep their season alive, getting the job done in impressive fashion.
The Aces dominated the Mystics all night, punishing them down low on their way to a 92-75 home win.
Liz Cambage led the Aces with 28 points to go along with 6 rebounds, providing a big physical presence all night that was too much for the Mystics frontcourt.
“We got the job done and now it’s about coming out and doing it again Tuesday night and taking it back to Washington,” said Cambage.
After a back and for battle for most of the first half, The Aces went on at 12-0 run towards the end of the second quarter to take a 37-47 lead into halftime.
They never looked back, opening the third quarter on a 13-6 run.
In the fourth, Camabge scored eight of the Aces first 11 points, killing any hopes of a comeback before being sat for therest of the game.
A’ja Wilson pitched in with 21 points and 8 rebounds while Kayla McBride added 18 points on three of five shooting from three-point range.
The frontcourt of Liz Cambage and A’ja Wilson was too much for the Mystics to handle playing bully ball and punishing the Mystics down low. Head coach Bill Laimbeer was pleased with how efficient both were, and nights like this are exactly what he envisioned when the team traded for Cambage back in May.
“Our offense is structured around post situations and they did their job tonight,” said Laimbeer. “That’s what they’repaid to do. It was nothing spectacular for each of them. They went about their business, shot a good percentage.”
The Aces scored 46 points in the paint to the Mystics 22 and out rebounded them 40 to 28. The Mystics also struggled shooting the ball, going 38% from the field on the night and 11/33 from three-point range.
“That’s who we are,” said Laimbeer. “We’re not Washington who runs around, shoots a million jump shotsand a bunch of threes. Let’s get the ball inside, pound it in there, get to the free throw line, and make some easy baskets.”
Kelsey Plum also returned to the starting lineup for the Aces after coming off the bench in the first two games of the series. Plum was solid all night, facilitating the offense and controlling the tempo as she finished with a game-high 9 assists to go along with 9 points.
Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby finished with 10 points
The Aces will look to tie up the series at two games apieceat home Tuesday night.
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