Another game, another record. Las Vegas Aces superstar and MVP run away, A’ja Wilson, broke the WNBA single-season rebound record on Tuesday night, collecting seven rebounds in a convincing 85-72 win over Jewell Loyd and the Seattle Storm.
Wilson came into Tuesday’s matchup at Climate Pledge Arena just two rebounds away from tying the single-season rebounding record. Wilson’s performance took her to new heights, 451 rebounds on the year, five more than the previous record set by Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese, who suffered a season-ending wrist injury earlier this month while playing against the Los Angeles Sparks.
The Aces’ center has now added another record to her extensive collection, having broken the single-season scoring mark last week and then becoming the first ever WNBA player to rack up 1,000 points in one season on Sunday.
Despite her propensity for making history, Wilson was relatively nonchalant about the record.
“That’s cool,” she said after the game, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I mean, I’m 6-foot-4 and I’m around the basket. I hope I can grab a couple rebounds for my team. But when it comes to just getting (rebounds) to get them, I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on putting the ball in the hoop.”
Embed from Getty ImagesThe outcome means Wilson and her teammates are sitting comfortably in fourth place ahead of the playoffs, which start Sunday afternoon, but the Aces are not done yet and could grab the third seed on Thursday, the final day of the regular season, if the undermanned Sky defeat the Connecticut Sun and the Aces take care of business against the Dallas Wings.
“Our best basketball is still in front of us, and we also know that we are starting to click,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “Ask me three weeks ago, and I was not liking us. And today, I feel pretty good about where we are at as a basketball team.”
The Aces are looking to join an elite club becoming the second ever WNBA team to win a three-peat this season. The Houston Comets won the first four titles in league history from 1997 to 2000.
