With marquee acquisition Liz Cambage sidelined for the season opener, the Las Vegas Aces took little time reminding the WNBA how good this team was going to be even without the dominant Australian. The Aces were on full display Sunday night, dominating the Los Angeles Sparks, 83-70, to kick off the 2019 season.
As Cambage looked on, the WNBA’s reigning Rookie of the Year scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds while fellow All-Star, Kayla McBride, added 20 points and seven boards. Dearica Hamby came off the bench to add 12 points awith 14 rebounds. The Aces — now the popular pick to win the WNBA championship — pulled away with a dominating second quarter, much to the pleasure of the 7,249 in attendance.
“I told our players at the start of training camp that I wanted our bench to change the complexion of the game, that’s what great teams do,” Laimbeer said. “They did that tonight. Dearica was a big part of that.”
Wilson, who has been the face of the team since it moved to Las Vegas last year, was just excited to get off the practice floor and start the season.
“It was just so much excitement around the arena, around our team, we were just so excited to get out there and play,” she said. “We’ve been in a hard training camp for two weeks straight and just to go out there and play in front of such a great crowd…that’s what you want, that’s the energy that we need here, it was just a lot of fun being out there.”
The Sparks were without two-time WNBA MVP Candace Parker. Maria Vadeeva led the Sparks with 24 points and five rebounds while Nneka Ogwumike added 17 points and 11 rebounds.
While Wilson, McBride, Kelsey Plum (11 points) and 2019 first overall pick Jackie Young (eight points) were expected to shine, Hamby’s performance was the story of the night for the Aces. Her persistence on defense set the tone for the second quarter, in which the Aces held the Sparks to just eight points to effectively pull away for good.
“I may not score 20 points but I’m gonna make up for it on the defensive end, I’m gonna dive on the floor, I’m gonna run the floor really hard,” Hamby said. “I think (Laimbeer) knows he can count on that every single night from me. That’s why Bill brought me back. If I’m playing as hard as I can every single second, the game is gonna reward you.”
The crowd of more than 7,000 included all-time NBA great Kobe Bryant, soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis, UNLV basketball coach T.J. Otzelberger, Jim Murren, the CEO of MGM Resorts International, which owns the Las Vegas Aces and Mark Walter, the CEO of Guggenheim Partners, which owns the Los Angeles Dodgers and Sparks.
The Aces return to action Friday night on the road against the Phoenix Mercury at 7 p.m PST, with the game being televised live on ESPN2. The Mercury lost their season opener Saturday night, falling to Seattle, 77-68.
