WNBA Aces Lose Semifinals To Washington Mystics Before 5,465 Tuesday Evening

Aces get ready for Game 4

By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell 

 

Liz Cambage wrapped her arm around Dearica Hamby’s shoulder as the Aces walked off the court. They could not hide the disappointment.

A powerful Washington Mystics squad had just defeated the Las Vegas Aces, 94-90, in Game 4 of the Best-of-5 WNBA Semifinals and the second season for the Aces in Las Vegas was over.

The Aces had championship hopes with the trade for the six-foot, eight-inch Cambage. But the Mystics were powered by all-world Elena Delle Donne, plus clutch fourth quarter shooting by Emma Meesseman to squeeze out the four-point win and win the series, three games to one.

There were 5,465 fans in Mandalay Bay Events Center Tuesday night with Lakers stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis sticking around to the end. Raiders owner Mark Davis, a frequent courtside attendee, was watching, too.

Raiders Mark Davis was in his usual courtside seat.

 

NBA superstar LeBron James was in the crowd.

In the end, the Aces lacked the late-game experience to power through in Game 4. Cambage scored 25 points, but A’ja Wilson scored only four points and three-point specialist Kayla McBride chipped in with only eight points.

The Lakers’ LeBron James and friends were in the house Tuesday.

League MVP Delle Donne had 25 points, with Meesseman scoring 22 and Kristi Toliver helping with 20 points.

The crowd size was not as large as Sunday’s gathering when more than 6,000 fans were in the arena. But they were loud until the end when Hamby missed a game-tying three-point shot in the final seconds.

The Aces finish, 21-14, in their second season in Las Vegas after MGM Resorts International bought the former San Antonio Stars franchise and moved the WNBA club to Sin City.

 

 

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Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.