WNBA Wrap: Las Vegas Aces Register 16th Straight Victory; Minnesota Lynx Beat Golden State Valkyries

A’ja Wilson had 23 points and 19 rebounds, Jewell Loyd added 21 points and the Las Vegas Aces made a single-game WNBA record 22 3-pointers in their 16th consecutive win, 103-75 over the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday night.

Las Vegas (30-14) is tied for the second-longest win streak in league history with the Phoenix Mercury. The Aces secured the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and will face the Seattle Storm on Sunday to begin a three-game series.

The Sparks (21-23) were pushed out of a playoff spot after Seattle beat Golden State on Tuesday.

Las Vegas went 22 of 45 from 3-point range to top the league record of 19 set by New York and Atlanta. Loyd hit seven 3-point shots and Jackie Young went 5 for 10.

Young finished with 17 points and 12 assists to become the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 3,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists, doing so in 243 games.

Lynx set franchise wins record

Natisha Hiedeman scored 21 points, Napheesa Collier had 19 and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Golden State Valkyries 72-53 to set a franchise record with their 34th victory.

Minnesota (34-10) had already clinched home-court advantage in the playoffs, locking up the No. 1 seed with a win over Connecticut last week. The Lynx tied the 2023 Las Vegas Aces for the most regular season wins in WNBA history.

Golden State (23-21) dropped to the No. 8 seed in the playoffs and will play Minnesota again on Sunday to begin a best-of-three series.

Collier finished the regular season shooting 53% from the field, 40.3% from 3-point range and 91% from the free-throw line to join Elena Delle Donne (2019) as the only players in WNBA history to have a 50/40/90 season.

Jessica Shepard had 11 points and 14 rebounds for Minnesota. DiJonai Carrington (shoulder) missed her fourth straight game.

Bueckers leads Wings in finale

Paige Bueckers had 24 points and Amy Okonkwo and Aziaha James each added 20 off the bench as the Dallas Wings ended their season with a 97-76 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.

Phoenix (27-17), which has lost three in a row, had already clinched the No. 4 seed in the WNBA playoffs and will face the No. 5 seed New York Liberty in the first round.

Satou Sabally led Phoenix with 14 points and Kalani Brown added 12. Third-leading scorer Alyssa Thomas played just 13 minutes.

Maddy Siegrist scored 10 points for Dallas (10-34). Myisha Hines-Allen grabbed 10 rebounds to go with seven points.

Bueckers topped Arike Ogunbowale for the top scoring average by a rookie in franchise history (19.2), while also moving into fifth in WNBA history for most 20-point games by a first-year player at 17.

Bueckers moved past Sue Bird (191 in 2002) for the second most assists by a rookie in WNBA history. Bueckers also passed A’ja Wilson (682) for the third most points by a rookie.