After a slow start to their season, the Las Vegas Aces are once again in the WNBA Finals, defeating the Indiana Fever 107-98 in overtime. In the last six years, they’ve reached the Finals four times, and the third in four seasons under head coach Becky Hammon. 

Although Fever were down several players, most notably Caitlin Clark, the team never let up, pushing the favored Aces to overtime. The Fever managed to do this after Kelsey Mitchell, who was having a superb playoff run, left the game in the third quarter due to cramping in her lower body. She was transported to a local hospital to receive fluids.

In the end, it was just too much A’ja Wilson, who scored 35 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 4 blocks. Wilson became the first player in WNBA  postseason history with at least 30 points, 5 assists, 4 steals, and 4 blocks. 

"Obviously, we're not complacent," league MVP A'ja Wilson said after the game. "It's not an, 'Oh, we're happy to be here,' because we worked our butts off to get here, but it does definitely feel a lot different than the ones before, only because we went through the mud for this."

Like Coach always says, we weren't necessarily buried; we were planted," Wilson continued. "We sometimes had to let the soil get moisture, and then we had to grow. Now we're still growing."

Ace’s guard Jackie Young added 30 points, 10 assists, and no turnovers. She is the first WNBA player to post those stats in an elimination game.

Wilson and Young are the first teammates to both score 30 points in the same playoff game in WNBA history.

For the Fever, All-Star center Aliyah Boston scored 11 points and pulled down 16 rebounds before fouling out.

The Aces take on the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA Finals on Friday, October 3, on ESPN.