WNBA: Wilson’s 27 carry the Aces past short-handed Toronto

Five names on the inactive list

Toronto arrived in Las Vegas without five rotation players and still made a game of it into the second half. That is the honest version of Sunday night.

The Aces won 88-78. A’ja Wilson finished with 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Jackie Young added 21. Las Vegas moved to 26-13 and has now won two in a row.

Toronto’s absentee list did much of the talking. Marina Mabrey, an All-Star, sat out with an adductor problem. Brittney Sykes was out with a left foot injury, Nyara Sabally and Maria Conde with calf issues, and Aneesah Morrow with a left knee injury. Sykes and Morrow have both been ruled out for the rest of the season.

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What the expansion season has cost Toronto

Sykes’ case is the one that stings. She had come back in mid-August after eight weeks out, played a short run of games, and is now finished for the year. For a first-year franchise trying to build something recognisable before 2027, losing two rotation players to season-ending injuries inside the same stretch is a planning problem as much as a basketball one.

Kia Nurse led Toronto with 19 points. Kiki Rice scored 14 and Temi Fagbenle 13. Three players in double figures against a contender, from a roster that had to improvise its minutes.

Toronto had snapped a 12-game losing streak on Aug. 21 against Portland. The distance between that night and this one is the distance between a good week and a deep roster.

Las Vegas keeps stacking wins

For the Aces, the value of Sunday was arithmetic. Twenty-six wins, thirteen losses, thirty-nine games played, and a second straight result banked as the regular season thins out.

Wilson’s seven assists sat next to the 27 points, and on a night when Toronto could not spare defenders to crowd her, both numbers arrived without much resistance. Young’s 21 came in the same conditions.

Toronto’s schedule does not get kinder from here. Neither does the medical report.

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