Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) shoots the ball during a WNBA basketball game against the Dallas Wings at Michelob Ultra Arena Wednesday, July 5, 2023.
Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2023 | 8:32 p.m.
Next up for the Aces in their championship defense: The Dallas Wings.
The Aces will host Dallas in the WNBA semifinals with Game 1 set for Sunday at Michelob Ultra Arena with tipoff slated for 2 p.m. (ESPN2).
The Wings, the No. 4 seed, completed the two-game sweep over the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday with a 101-74 win at College Park Center in Arlington. Seven players scored in double figures, led by 20 points from top scorer Arike Ogunbowale.
The Aces took three of the four regular season meetings over Dallas, with the lone loss being an 80-78 decision in Arlington on July 7.
That was notably the last game the Aces had center Candace Parker before losing her the rest of the regular season due to foot surgery. Las Vegas won the next two matchups, 104-91 on July 30 in Vegas, and 104-84 in East Texas on Aug. 8 where the Aces led by as many as 41 points.
It’s the fifth straight season the Aces are in the semifinals, but it’s the first time the Wings have made it past the first round since relocating to Dallas in 2015. The Wings moved from Tulsa after a six-year run in Oklahoma; the franchise originated as the Detroit Shock in 1998.
The last time the franchise made the playoffs was when it was in Detroit in 2009 under former Aces coach Bill Laimbeer. The Shock won three championships with Laimbeer at the helm.
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
