Aces vs. Mystics: Jackie Young's Season-High 32 Sends Las Vegas to the Playoffs in an 83-76 Win

Jackie Young took the game away from the Washington Mystics in 1 minute and 52 seconds. With the score tied at 62 early in the fourth quarter on Thursday night, she scored 12 straight Las Vegas points, the last three on a 25-foot running jumper off a Chelsea Gray feed, and the Aces were suddenly up 74-64 with postseason plans to make.

Las Vegas held on for an 83-76 win that locked up a playoff spot, the franchise's 8th straight postseason berth according to the team. Young finished with a season-high 32 points and five threes, her first 30-point game of the year. Not bad for a night when the Aces lost the paint by 28 and A'ja Wilson shot 5 of 14.

A Game That Kept Changing Its Mind

Young set the tone immediately. Las Vegas opened on a 14-2 run, she had 15 by the end of the first quarter, and her three at the horn made it 25-16. This looked like it might be a short evening at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

Then the Aces went ice cold. They shot 3 of 14 in the second, the Mystics strung together an 8-0 run between 9:20 and 6:02 to get within 25-24, and only four Mai Yamamoto free throws to end the half kept the Las Vegas lead at 38-32. Yamamoto, by the way, finished with six points on 0 of 4 shooting and 6 of 6 at the line, the funniest line in the box score.

The third quarter was whiplash. Vegas stretched it to 42-32, Washington answered with nine straight, Vegas got back to 47-41, and the Mystics reeled off eight more to take a 49-47 lead at 3:07, their first of the game. It didn't last. Jewell Loyd's three put the Aces back in front at 51-49, and it was 58-55 after three. Washington's muscle took a hit with 1:45 left in the period, when Kiki Iriafen was whistled for her fifth foul. She finished with five points in 27 minutes.

Then came the 62-all tie and Young's solo act. To their credit, the Mystics never stopped pushing. Shakira Austin scored all over the Aces in the closing minutes, but every time she cut into it, Vegas had a reply: Gray's free throws at 2:53, Loyd's 22-foot running pull-up at 2:33 for 79-68, and Wilson's 14-footer with 38.6 seconds left for 83-74.

Young Did It From Everywhere

The full Young line was absurd: 10 of 14 from the field, 5 of 8 from three, 7 of 8 at the line, five assists and one turnover in 35 minutes. The Aces say she's just the 4th player in WNBA history with a 30-point game on 70 percent shooting, at least five threes, at least five assists and no more than one turnover. She also finished three points short of her career high. On a night when Gray went 1 of 10 and Wilson needed 14 shots for 15 points, the Aces had one guard who could get a clean look whenever she wanted, and they rode her.

Wilson still filled in the corners with six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. Gray, even with the rough shooting, dished five assists, including the feed on Young's dagger and another on Loyd's late pull-up. Loyd added 13 off the bench with three threes.

Washington's top two did plenty. Austin had 29 points and eight rebounds on 12 of 20 shooting, including 14 in the fourth by the Aces' count, and 10 of those came in the last 3:04. Sonia Citron added 17 points and eight assists on 8 of 14 shooting. The Mystics simply needed one more perimeter scorer, and Georgia Amoore's 1 of 7 wasn't it.

The 12 Points Everybody Will Remember

Tie game, early fourth, a Mystics team that had already erased a 10-point deficit once in the second half and was feeling frisky. That's when a playoff clincher usually gets uncomfortable. Young made it a 12-2 run by herself, and the team's recap clocks it at 1:52 from start to finish. Washington had spent the previous 30-odd minutes turning the game into a paint-only fight it was winning. Young simply moved the game somewhere else.

How You Lose the Paint by 28 and Win Anyway

• 50-22: Washington's edge in the paint. The team says that 22 was the Aces' second-lowest output from that area all season.
• 25 of 27 vs. 8 of 16: The foul line, a 17-point swing in favor of Las Vegas.
• 10 of 25 vs. 6 of 15: Threes. Both teams shot 40 percent, but the Aces took 10 more and came away with 12 more points.
• 21-14: Points off turnovers, Las Vegas, with Washington's 17 giveaways doing the heavy lifting.

Add it up. Minus 22 on twos, plus 12 on threes, plus 17 at the line. There's your seven-point game, on a night Washington shot 51 percent to Las Vegas' 41.

In the Dance, and Chasing Second

Las Vegas is 24-11, 11-5 at home, and moved within a game of second-place Golden State at 24-9. Only Minnesota got to a playoff spot before them in 2026, and the Aces needed some help from the Los Angeles loss in Brooklyn the same night to get there. They have also won two straight after a pair of rough losses, including a 111-71 hammering by New York on Sunday, and took the season series with Washington 2-1. Next up is a home date with the 28-7 Lynx on Saturday, which should tell us plenty.

Washington dropped to 19-14, 8-8 on the road. Two games in this building, two losses, and the seven-game winning streak the Mystics carried here feels like a long time ago. They host Los Angeles on Saturday.

The House Runs the Numbers

Washington won the hand it wanted to play. It got to the rim whenever it pleased, it shot 51 percent, and it had a star scoring 29. In most cities that gets you a happy flight home. But this is Las Vegas, where the whole economy runs on the idea that the math eventually collects, and the Aces spent the night at the foul line and behind the arc quietly doing exactly that. Young was just the one dealing.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the Las Vegas Aces. Context as reported by the Associated Press.