Photos by Hugh Byrne and Story by LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas, Nevada — Las Vegas Aces games are celebrity event magnets, with everyone from Dawn Staley and Mike Tyson to Lisa Leslie and Dana White watching the Aces play the Indiana Fever Sunday evening.
They, along with a packed Michelob Ultra Arena crowd, watched the Fever jump out to a 5-0 lead and never trail in Indiana’s one-sided 109-75 crushing of the defending WNBA champs.
Kelsey Mitchell scored 27 points in 30 minutes to lead the 14-9 Fever over a Las Vegas (17-7) team playing its third game in four days. Only a week ago on July 5, Indiana defeated the Aces by 16 points at T-Mobile Arena. Both Vegas star A’ja Wilson and Indiana guard Caitlin Clark missed the July 5 game, but both played Sunday evening, with Clark scoring 12 points in 24 minutes and Wilson scoring 20.
Fresh off her UFC Ring Girl debut Saturday night, Indiana’s Sophie Cunningham scored 20 points off the bench that included 6 of 7 from 3 Land.
The Aces were down by only four points, 66-62, with only three and a half minutes left in the third quarter. But Indiana unleashed a 14-2 run to lead 80-64 after three quarters. The Fever then buried Las Vegas, 29-11, in the final quarter for the 109-75 final.
The Aces had just blasted Phoenix, 106-58, the day before before Las Vegas lost by 34 points to Indiana.