Aces vs. Sun: A'ja Wilson Drops 45 on 15-of-18 Shooting as Las Vegas Outlasts Connecticut 101-94

There are video games where you have to turn the difficulty all the way down to produce a line like this. A'ja Wilson did it on the road, on a Friday night in Uncasville: 45 points, 15 of 18 from the field, 2 of 2 from deep, 13 of 13 at the line, 32 minutes. Type that into a create-a-player screen and the console asks if you are feeling okay.

She needed most of it, too. Wilson carried the Las Vegas Aces to a 101-94 win over a Connecticut Sun team that kept crawling back, the third straight victory for Las Vegas since its opening-night loss and a much sweatier evening than an 0-4 opponent had any right to produce.

The Sun Refused to Read the Script

The first few minutes looked like a repeat of Wednesday's 98-69 blowout in this same building. The Aces made their first eight shots, every one of them assisted, and were up 17-6 with 5:33 left in the first. Wilson hit all five of her attempts in the quarter. By the final minute it was 28-15.

Then Connecticut ran off 11 straight, bridging the quarters, and it was 28-26 with 8:30 left in the second. Las Vegas steadied itself the old-fashioned way, by living at the foul line. The Sun's notes count 16 Aces trips to the stripe in the first half against just two for Connecticut, and the visitors took a 54-44 lead to the locker room with Wilson already at 19.

The second act went the same way. Las Vegas built it to 69-56 late in the third, Wilson added a three-point play for 72-59, and the Sun answered with another 11-0 run. Nell Angloma, who got the first minutes and first basket of her career earlier in the game, helped start it. Saniya Rivers supplied the fireworks with consecutive 3s, and at 72-70 with 1:13 left in the period, the 7,265 at Mohegan Sun Arena were fully awake. Connecticut never led at any point, but for about a minute there, it felt like the Sun might finally get the chance.

Five Forties and Counting

Wilson's night reads less like a box score and more like a research paper. Per the Aces, it was her fifth 40-point game, the most recorded all-time. Breanna Stewart and Diana Taurasi, who had been tied with her, each have four. The team also notes that a 45-point game has happened on just 10 occasions in league history, and she is responsible for two of them, the only player with more than one. Those 13 free throws are the most she has ever made without a miss, topping a pair of 12-for-12 nights. And the Sun's own notes say 45 is the highest score against Connecticut in franchise history, passing Betty Lennox's 44 from 2008.

She also grabbed three rebounds, handed out three assists and blocked two shots, because apparently she had time on her hands.

The supporting cast was fine with its role as the opening act. Chennedy Carter came off the bench for 18 on 5-of-8 shooting and went 8 of 12 at the line, continuing a loud return after not signing with a team last season. Chelsea Gray posted 12 points and 10 assists with seven rebounds, and Jackie Young had 13, six rebounds and six assists.

Connecticut's effort deserves its own paragraph, since the Sun were playing without Brittney Griner (left foot) for a second straight game and Olivia Nelson-Ododa (right ankle). Six players hit double figures. Hailey Van Lith led the way with a career-high 17 on 7-of-11 shooting, Rivers had 14 points and seven assists off the bench, and Aneesah Morrow put up 10 and 10 for her third straight double-double. Charlisse Leger-Walker scored 10 for the first time in her career, and Aaliyah Edwards made her season debut with six points in 17 minutes.

One Timeout, One Answer

The Sun had the building and the momentum at 72-70. Then came a timeout, and Wilson walked out of it and buried a 3-pointer. One trip later she had another three-point play, it was 78-70, and that was that. It grew into a 16-4 burst across the third and fourth quarters.

Connecticut got as close as 81-74 and 88-79 after that, but the fourth quarter belonged to one person. Every Las Vegas point in the final five minutes came from Wilson, 11 in all, capped by a 26-foot 3 at 1:30 that made it 101-86. Van Lith's back-to-back 3s fueled a closing 8-0 run that made the final score look friendlier than the game's last stretch actually felt.

Stats That Matter

• 60 percent: Las Vegas shooting, 35 of 58. Wilson alone accounted for 15 of those makes.
• 25 to 13: Free throws made, a 12-point Aces edge in a seven-point game.
• 81 to 58: Field goal attempts in Connecticut's favor, thanks to 11 offensive rebounds and 11 steals. The Sun won second-chance points 16-3 and bench points 47-26, per their notes, and still never led.
• 18: Points Connecticut scored off 18 Las Vegas turnovers, the one area where the Aces looked mortal. Las Vegas scored 15 off 13 Sun giveaways.
• 27: Connecticut's third-quarter total, which the team called its highest-scoring quarter of the season so far.

Nine Straight on the Road, Zero Wins at Home

The Aces are 3-1 and a perfect 3-0 on the road. According to the team, that is nine straight regular-season road wins dating to the 2025 season, plus 10 straight victories over the Sun. They wrap up a four-game trip at Atlanta on Sunday.

Connecticut is 0-4 and 0-3 at home, but losing by seven two days after losing by 29 counts as progress. The Sun head west next and play at Portland on Monday.

Lights Out in Uncasville

This was the last time the Aces will play at Mohegan Sun Arena, with the Sun headed to Houston for the 2027 season. Las Vegas leaves town with a 30-33 record against the Orlando/Connecticut franchise, according to the team. Wilson leaves with the kind of night the building will be telling stories about until the moving trucks pull up. Some visitors just wave on their way out. She turned off the lights.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press. Records and team notes from the Las Vegas Aces and Connecticut Sun team recaps.