Las Vegas Aces center A’ja Wilson is in the midst of a historic run.
When Las Vegas hosts the Chicago Sky on Tuesday night, Wilson will attempt to extend her record streak of 20-point, 15-rebound games by recording a fourth straight.
Wilson most recently tallied 28 points and 17 rebounds as the Aces (16-7) downed the Washington Mystics 89-77 on Sunday. Her 27.2 points per game lead the league, while her 11.9 rebounds per contest rank second to Chicago rookie Angel Reese.
It was the 11th time this year that Wilson has collected at least 25 points and 10 boards, marking a WNBA single-season record. At this point, Wilson appears to be the favorite to win her third MVP award in five years.
Her motivation? Not the fact that she lost to New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart last year, but rather that one voter left her outside of the top three, considering her fourth.
“That’s something that was all the motivation that I needed,” Wilson said of the fourth-place vote. “Because in my eyes, I was like, ‘OK, maybe top two, I get it.’ But to see that I got a fourth-place vote was kind of like, ‘OK, obviously I have more work that needs to be done.'”
While Wilson marches on toward another MVP, Chicago (9-14) continues its season-long search for consistency. The Sky are coming off an 81-67 loss against New York on Saturday, which featured the end of Reese’s record 15-game double-double streak.
Reese hauled in 16 rebounds in the setback, but she was held to eight points. Her streak of 17 straight games with 10 or more rebounds is the longest run in league history, and she seems like a lock to break the WNBA’s single-season rebounding record. Reese needs 129 boards in the final 17 games of the campaign to set the new high mark. Sylvia Fowles (404 in 34 games in 2018) holds the record.
“She wants to get better in every aspect of the game,” Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon said of Reese. “She looks at players she admires, and she wants to take things from them and add to her game.”
Tuesday marks the second meeting of the year between the teams. Las Vegas beat Chicago 95-83 back on June 27.
–Field Level Media