Wilson's double-double, Evans' spark off the bench lead Aces past Dream 87-72
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A'ja Wilson had 24 points and 12 rebounds, Dana Evans provided a spark off the bench and the Las Vegas Aces won three straight games for the first time this season with an 87-72 victory over the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night.
Evans scored the first nine points of the second quarter to give the Aces the lead for good and finished with 14 points. Jackie Young added 14 points for Las Vegas (12-11), which plays its next four on the road. NaLyssa Smith had 11 points.
Allisha Gray led the Dream (13-10) with 24 points and eight rebounds. Jordan Canada added 12 points. Atlanta is without All-Star and leading scorer Rhyne Howard due to a knee injury. She missed the last two games before the All-Star break and will miss at least four more.
A 3-pointer by Te-Hina Paopao had the Dream within 68-62 with 7:48 to play, but the Aces had a seven-point run to get the lead back to 13 points and Atlanta never threatened again.
The Dream led 27-20 after one quarter behind Gray's 12 points and a closing 15-3 run. Atlanta was 7 of 15 overall, but 5 of 8 behind the arc and were plus-8 from the foul line. The Dream were 4 of 19 from distance over the last three quarters and shot 38.5% overall.
Evans put the Aces up 29-27 with her second quarter run and had 11 in the quarter when Vegas had a 25-12 advantage to lead 45-39 at the half.
The Aces got the lead to 14 in the middle of the third quarter before the Dream cut the deficit to 67-59 entering the fourth.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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