A’ja Wilson and Sydney Colson each scored 17 points and the Las Vegas Aces handed the Washington Mystics their third straight loss, 85-81 on Saturday night.
A’ja Wilson made the last two baskets for Las Vegas (11-5) and Kelsey Plum clinched it with two free throws with seven seconds left. Kayla McBride added 16 points, and Liz Cambage had nine of her 13 points in the fourth quarter and grabbed nine rebounds.
Natasha Cloud led the Mystics (9-6) with 18 points, and LaToya Sanders had 11 points and 10 rebounds. Washington fell to 0-4 without All-Star captain Ellena Delle Donne, who suffered a fractured nose last weekend. However, Emma Meesseman was back after missing nine games playing with the Belgium national team and she scored 15 points. Kristi Toliver also had 15 points and surpassed Kara Lawson for eighth on the career 3-pointers list with 586.
The start was delayed because of a shot clock malfunction. Eight days earlier, their matchup in Las Vegas was suspended at halftime because of the earthquake in California. In that game the Mystics, who had won five straight, were up 51-36 after shooting 59% in the first half. No date has been set for that game to resume.
Washington jumped out to a 28-16 lead after one quarter but Colson scored 12 points in the second to cut it to 44-43 at the half. Her drive down the late for a floater with 1.3 seconds to go tied it at 61 after three quarters.
Cambage followed her own point-blank miss with a putback for a 77-75 lead with 1:32 to play. After a Washington miss, Wilson drove down the late to stretch the lead to four. From there the Mystics cut it to two three times in the final minute but each time the Aces answered, first with a Wilson jumper and then two McBride free throws, before Plum finished it.
The last time the Aces were to play in Washington, late last season, they forfeited the game after travel issues.
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