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A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and the Las Vegas Aces will go for their fifth straight win when they host the Seattle Storm on Sunday night.

Las Vegas (28-13) is playing the Storm in back-to-back games after winning 114-77 on the road Thursday night. Last-place Seattle (8-34) had a game in between and fell 70-57 to the Golden State Valkyries on Saturday night.

The Aces, winners of three of the past four league titles, have been displaying their championship pedigree lately.

Young poured in 22 points in the first quarter Thursday on her way to a career-high 35. She forms a terrific tandem with four-time MVP Wilson, who leads the league at 26.1 points per game and just broke the WNBA single-season free-throw record with 259 made foul shots.

The top overall pick in the 2019 draft, Young has earned five straight All-Star selections and is averaging career bests of 19.3 points and 6.6 assists per game.

“(Young has) worked her butt off to prove why she was the No. 1 draft pick, to prove why she’s All-WNBA and one of the best two-way guards in the WNBA,” Wilson said, per USA Today. “She has a confidence and a poise about herself that was just a matter of time.”

The Aces are likely bound for a top-four seed and home-court advantage in at least the first round, but in the ever-tightening playoff picture they’re also only three games ahead of the teams tied for seventh and eighth.

The Storm, who’ve lost 17 of their past 19 games, are merely focused on putting together respectable performances as they build toward next year.

Coach Sonia Raman was understandably displeased with Thursday’s effort, which set a dubious franchise mark for the most points allowed in a game.

“We have to have those (high standards). We have to hold ourselves to it, myself included,” Raman said. “This is an organization that’s synonymous with winning and synonymous with playing really good basketball that we can be proud of.

“I think for the most part this season, we’ve played to our abilities, we’ve played hard, we’ve played together, we’ve put a good product out on the floor and we know that tonight wasn’t one of those nights.”

The Storm then shot just 33.3% from the field against the stingy Valkyries on Saturday. Flau’jae Johnson led the way with 17 points after totaling 25 against the Aces. The rookie averages 14.4 points per game, third on the team behind Dominique Malonga (16.5) and Natisha Hiedeman (15.1).

–Field Level Media

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