The Aces Drop their First Game, as Allie Quigley Hit A Game Winner for the Chicago Sky, 88-86

Orlando- The Las Vegas Aces fell short to the Chicago Sky in their season opener, 88-86.

Despite not having Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum in the line-up this year, Kayla McBride, Aja Wilson, and Angel McCoughtry had to step up in order for the Aces to come out with a victory against the Chicago Sky. In the first quarter, both teams were shooting the ball at a high percentage. Wilson had 8 points in the first quarter and was very aggressive with getting to the free-throw line. Every time, Wilson was in the post, she was not hesitant with backing her opponent down and shooting the fade-away shot. However, Wilson's teammate McCoughtry had two quick fouls that kept her passive on the defensive end. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 30-26.

For the rest of the first half, the Aces' had trouble with getting back into their offensive sets. They rushed a lot of shots, but because of their length, they had second-chance opportunities, which hey capitalized. On the defensive end, the Aces put a lot of pressure on the Sky with playing man to man defense and it caused a lot of frustration with the Sky. After the Aces extended the lead to nine with under three minutes left in the half, the Sky called a timeout. After the timeout, the Sky went on a 10-0 run to cut the lead down to two at the end of the half, 48-46.

In the first few minutes of the second half, the Aces went on a 10-0 run and the Sky had no answer for the Aces' bigs and had to call a timeout. The Aces dominated the paint with having 40 points in the paint, while the Sky had 25. Dearica Hamby and Danielle Robinson had a couple of steals and some crucial brackets that kept the Aces ahead. The Sky kept digging at the Aces' lead with huge contributions from Azura Stevens and Kahleah Copper, who combined for 30 points but could not stop Wilson from scoring. Late in the fourth quarter, Cooper and the Sky had the Aces on their heels, as they cut the Aces' lead one. With 14.2 seconds left in regulation, Allie Quigley hit a three-pointer to win the game for the Sky, 88-86.

This is what coach Laimbeer had to say about the opener.