Natasha Howard (No. 6) of the Dallas Wings was effective in the paint against the Las Vegas Aces with 14 points at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Sunday, July 7, 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo: Dallas Wings Basketball)
LAS VEGAS — For the first 20 minutes at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Sunday afternoon, the Dallas Wings were in a closely fought battle against the Las Vegas Aces. After leading the Aces by two points, the Wings trailed Las Vegas by three, 51-48, but very much in the game.
One of the catalysts for Dallas’ efforts, Odyssey Sims, had a phenomenal performance to keep the Wings in contention. Despite Sims tallying 25 points, four rebounds and five assists, A’ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum proved to be too formidable for Dallas with Las Vegas prevailing in a 104-85 showdown.
In the first quarter, Sims, Teaira McCowan, Jacy Sheldon, Kalani Brown, Arike Ogunbowale and Monique Billings all got on the scoring sheet with their baskets for Dallas. The tandem of Plum and Wilson were accompanied by Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young for the Aces’ 25 points in the opening 10 minutes.
The tide slowly started to turn in favor of Las Vegas with rookie Kate Martin from The University of Iowa flexing her three-point skills 22 seconds into the second quarter. Tiffany Hayes showcased her flexible scoring skills while Wilson, Young, Gray and Plum contributed to the Aces’ 26 second quarter points.
McCowan, Billings, Sims, Sheldon and Natasha Howard led Dallas’ scoring efforts in the second quarter, tallying 21 points.
As the second half kicked off, Wilson, Gray and Alysha Clark tallied nine unanswered points by the Aces, prompting Latricia Trammell to call a timeout for the Wings with 8:30 left int he third quarter.
Sims drew Dallas within 10 points of Las Vegas’ lead with her layup 52 seconds later along with a trey with 6:43 left in the third quarter. Clark and Young’s baskets put Las Vegas ahead of Dallas by 14 with another Wings timeout called with 6:05 remaining.
Jacy Sheldon (No. 4) of the Dallas Wings tallied six points against the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday, July 7, 2024. (Photo: Dallas Wings Basketball)
Despite Howard, Brown, Ogunbowale and Sims’ points scoring efforts the Wings, Las Vegas was relentless on the scoring front with Gray, Wilson, Plum and Megan Gustafson extending the Aces’ lead over the Wings from three to 12 points going into the fourth quarter.
Although it was at least a six possession game for Dallas to earnestly close the gap on Las Vegas, the Wings kept on fighting hard in the onset of the fourth quarter. Howard started things off with her layup in the opening 19 seconds while Sims got a clutch layup to make it a nine point difference, even with the double technicals called on Sims and Martin.
Following Wilson’s step back jumper, Sims responded with a jumper of her own with 8:39 left, making it an eight point game once more. This would be the closest Dallas would get to Las Vegas as Wilson essentially scored the dagger with a 26′ trey 24 seconds later.
For all intents and purposes, even with Billings’ layup inside the final 5:30 to make it a 90-77 score with Dallas trailing, Las Vegas was merciless after Sims’ tip layup. Going on a 8-0 run for the next 2:47, Dallas trailed Las Vegas by 22 points.
Brown, Sevgi Uzun and Stephanie Soares brought Dallas within 16 of Las Vegas in the final 1:27 of the game before Martin’s trey inside the final 31 seconds. Outscoring Dallas, 53-37, in the second half, Las Vegas tallied their second win of the 2024 season against the Wings.
Although Dallas struggled to score points in the final 20 minutes of the game, Sims capitalized from the paint and beyond the arc, going three for five from the three point line. It came down to trying to capitalizing on the quality opportunities available against a formidable Aces squad.
“Just take what the defense gives me,” Sims said. “They were going under. They were basically open shots, so I was just taking advantage of them not guarding me, not going up over the screen. I was making threes today, and then just staying on the attack, getting downhill, and finding my teammates.
Trammell understood the challenges that Las Vegas presented on Sunday after their defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday evening. With two more matches remaining this year against the two-time WNBA champions, Trammell kept an even keeled perspective.
“We’re gonna go back and and watch this,” Trammell said. “But we knew that we were gonna come in with a chip on their shoulder. They just had a loss in LA. And so we knew being back home for them, it was gonna be difficult, but we just gotta continue to go now.'”
Most importantly, Trammell understands that her team must have a short-term memory when it comes to a tough loss against Las Vegas.
After all, the Phoenix Mercury, a team they have battled tenaciously twice this year in close losses, awaits them at Footprint Center, their Western Conference opponents’ home stadium, for a Wednesday matinee matchup.
“We gotta focus on Phoenix, and then we’ll wrap [up], review this, make some adjustments, but now it’s the next game up at this schedule,” Trammell said. “Happens way too quick.”
The Rundown
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Total |
| Dallas Wings | 27 | 21 | 17 | 20 | 85 |
| Las Vegas Aces | 25 | 26 | 26 | 27 | 104 |
Playoff Picture
Following a 104-85 defeat against the Las Vegas Aces (13-7), the Dallas Wings (5-17) drop to 12th in the WNBA standings, four games behind the eighth and final playoff spot held by the Chicago Sky (8-12).
Dallas Wings: By the Numbers
Odyssey Sims (No. 2) led the Dallas Wings with 25 points in a 104-85 loss to the Las Vegas Aces at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sunday, July 7, 2024. (Photo: Dallas Wings Basketball)
| Dallas Wings | ||||||||||||||
| Starters | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Natasha Howard (F) | 27 | 7-18 | 0-3 | 0-1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | -15 | 14 |
| Teaira McCowan (C) | 23 | 4-6 | 0-0 | 1-1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | -18 | 9 |
| Odyssey Sims (G) | 34 | 11-18 | 3-5 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | -18 | 25 |
| Arike Ogunbowale (G) | 37 | 4-13 | 2-6 | 3-3 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 3 | -23 | 13 |
| Jacy Sheldon (G) | 32 | 3-8 | 0-4 | 0-0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | -16 | 6 |
| Bench | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Monique Billings (F) | 17 | 4-7 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -8 | 8 |
| Kalani Brown (C) | 13 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 4-6 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 |
| Stephanie Soares (C) | 5 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Sevgi Uzun (G) | 12 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -2 | 1 |
Las Vegas Aces: By the Numbers
| Las Vegas Aces | ||||||||||||||
| Starters | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Alysha Clark (F) | 29 | 2-7 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 21 | 6 |
| A’ja Wilson (F) | 31 | 11-22 | 3-4 | 3-4 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 28 |
| Chelsea Gray (G) | 26 | 5-9 | 0-1 | 2-3 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 27 | 12 |
| Kelsey Plum (G) | 31 | 7-15 | 3-9 | 6-6 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 23 |
| Jackie Young (G) | 29 | 7-14 | 2-6 | 2-2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 18 |
| Bench | Minutes | FG | 3PT | FT | OREB | DREB | REB | AST | STL | BLK | TO | PF | +/- | PTS |
| Megan Gustafson (C) | 17 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 1-2 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -6 | 4 |
| Sydney Colson (G) | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -3 | 0 |
| Tiffany Hayes (G) | 21 | 2-4 | 1-2 | 2-2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -4 | 7 |
| Kate Martin (G) | 11 | 2-6 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -4 | 6 |
| Kierstan Bell (G) | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -3 | 0 |
Coming Up Next
Dallas battles the Phoenix Mercury (11-10) at in Phoenix, Arizona at the Footprint Center on Wednesday, July 10 at 2:30 p.m. CT/12:30 p.m. CT. In their previous two matchups, the Mercury defeated the Wings at College Park Center in Arlington, Texas, on June 9, 97-90, in double overtime, and 104-96 on July 3.
