By Percy Allen / The Seattle Times
BRADENTON, Fla. — Turnovers, poor perimeter shooting and a gaping rebounding disparity resulted in a second straight loss for the Seattle Storm, an 82-74 defeat to the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday at the IMG Academy.
Seattle (11-3) still has the best record in the WNBA, but Las Vegas (10-3) unofficially claimed the mantle as the league’s best team with a dominating performance in what was billed as a potential WNBA Finals preview.
The old boxing axiom says opposing styles makes good fights, but in this case the Storm’s 3-point attack was no match for the Ace’s inside assault.
Seattle converted just 5 of 18 shots behind the arc while Las Vegas scored on an assortment of layups and short jumpers for 38 points in the paint. The Aces also sank 17 of 19 at the free-throw line.
“We can get any shot we want,” Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer said on the sidelines. “We’re getting good shots. You just have to have the confidence to knock the down.”
Led by WNBA MVP candidate A’ja Wilson (23 points and 14 rebounds), Las Vegas shot 45.2% from the field.
Breanna Stewart was equally impressive while tallying 29 points and 16 rebounds.
However, the Storm needed more offensive contributors on a day when Sue Bird missed her second straight game to rest a nagging knee injury.
Natasha Howard had 16 points, but no other Seattle player finished in double digits. Jewell Loyd, who scored a career-high 35 points Thursday, tallied just three points on 1-for-11 shooting.
The Storm trailed 19-18 after the first period and essentially lost the game in the second when the Aces outscored Seattle 26-11.
Seattle was down 45-29 at halftime, which was its lowest-scoring half of the season.
Las Vegas built a 21-point lead (56-35) midway through the third, but the Storm closed to within five points (79-74) after a 17-4 run and Sami Whitcomb’s 3-pointer with 33.7 seconds remaining.
The Aces closed the game with three straight points while Seattle missed a pair of 3-pointers.
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