September 14, 2023 – Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) – Chicago Sky News Release
The No. 8-seeded Chicago Sky fell to the No. 1-seeded Las Vegas Aces, 59-87, in Game 1 of the first round in the 2023 WNBA Playoffs. The Sky now trail the first-round series 0-1. Chicago fell to 20-21 in playoff games all time. The Sky are now 0-5 against the Aces this season (including the regular season). The Sky are also now 1-1 when opening on the road in the playoffs all time.
Chicago had just one player finish the game scoring in double figures, with Kahleah Copper dropping 15 points on 35.7% (5 of 14) shooting from the floor. Courtney Williams, fresh off earning Eastern Conference Player of the Week honors, dropped nine points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Elizabeth Williams added four points and 10 rebounds and Alanna Smith dropped postseason career highs of eight points and seven rebounds (tied).
The Aces, on the other hand, saw five players score in double figures, led by Chelsea Gray’s 20 points, seven assists, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Kelsey Plum scored 16 points, Jackie Young dropped 18 points and six assists and Alysha Clark added 13 off the bench. A’ja Wilson dropped 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, surpassing several WNBA and franchise milestones (see below) while Kiah Stokes had a playoff career-high 15 rebounds.
The two teams take the stage again on Sunday, Sept. 17 for Game 2 of the 2023 WNBA Playoffs. That game tips off at 2 p.m. CST and will be broadcast nationally on ABC. If the Sky fall in Game 2 of the playoffs, they are eliminated from the playoffs. However, if the Sky win, it forces a Game 3 in Chicago on Wednesday, Sept. 20 inside Wintrust Arena.
Other highlights include:
Chelsea Gray passed Vickie Johnson (578 career points in the playoffs) for 25th on the WNBA’s all-time playoff points list, finishing today with 595 career points scored in the playoffs (Scored 20 in today’s game)
Kiah Stokes moved past Jackie Young (91 postseason rebounds with the Aces) for third on the Aces’ all-time playoffs rebounding list, finishing today with 100 postseason rebounds in her Aces career
A’ja Wilson moved to a tie for eighth with Rebekkah Brunson on the WNBA’s all-time playoffs blocks list, finishing today with 61 postseason blocks. In the same game, she passed Margo Dydek and Tammy Sutton-Brown (60 career blocks in the playoffs each, rank tied for ninth all time in the postseason) on the all-time postseason leaderboard. Wilson is one block in the playoffs away from tying Tamika Catchings for seventh on the all-time list
Kelsey Plum tied Liz Cambage (61 defensive rebounds in the playoffs with the Aces) for fifth on the Aces’ all-time postseason defensive rebounds list, finishing today with 62 defensive rebounds in the playoffs with Las Vegas
KEY RUNS:
The Aces went on a 14-6 run from 9:17 to 5:41 in the first quarter
Las Vegas went on a 23-8 run from 4:01 in the first quarter to 6:22 in the second quarter
The Aces went on a 17-6 run from 5:28 in the third quarter to 9:41 in the fourth quarter
Las Vegas closed out the game with a 15-5 run from 7:46 to 2:02 in the fourth quarter
KEY STATS:
The Aces racked up three blocks in the second quarter, all of which came from A’ja Wilson
The Sky were outscored 16-28 in the paint in the first half
Ultimately, the Sky were outscored 28-44 in the paint
The Aces shot 53.8% (21 of 39) in the first half compared to the Sky, who shot 35.1% (13 of 37)
Overall, Las Vegas shot 43.2% (32 of 74) from the floor and 31.8% (7 of 22) from deep while Chicago shot 33.3% (24 of 72) from the field and 22.7% (5 of 22) from three
The Aces outscored the Sky 17-8 on the fast break in the first half
The Aces finished the game outscoring the Sky 27-15 in fast-break points
The Aces out-assisted the Sky 20-14
The Sky out-rebounded the Aces 43-39
The Sky’s 43 rebounds were four shy of tying their postseason franchise record of 47
The Sky scored just 10 points in the third quarter, shooting 26.3% (5 of 19) in the period
The Aces finished tonight with just eight turnovers and eight fouls, the only team in WNBA history to finish a postseason game with eight or fewer of each, and just the seventh overall game (regular season or playoffs) in WNBA history (Across the Timeline)
The 59 points scored in regulation tonight by the Sky were their second-fewest in postseason history (Fewest: 57 points scored in regulation in 2013 playoff series vs. Indiana)
The Aces shot 94.1% on 17 free-throw attempts while the Sky shot 75.0% on eight free-throw attempts
The Aces had seven blocks and 10 steals while the Sky had five blocks and four steals
The Sky committed 14 turnovers and allowed 16 points off those turnovers
The Sky committed 17 personal fouls
CHICAGO NOTES:
Alanna Smith surpassed her previous playoff career high of seven points by dropping eight points in her first 6:43 of play
Smith scored eight of the Sky’s 15 points in the first quarter
Courtney Williams accounted for nine of the Sky’s 15 points in the first quarter (three points, six points created from assists)
Courtney Williams recorded five points, six rebounds and five assists
Kahleah Copper scored 11 of the Sky’s 21 points in the second quarter
Copper had 13 of Chicago’s 36 points in the first half
Robyn Parks, Morgan Bertsch, Sika Koné and Taylor Soule made their first career playoff appearances
Parks and Koné scored their first career playoff points
Dana Evans accounted for nine of the Sky’s 13 points in the fourth quarter (five points, four points created from assists)
LAS VEGAS NOTES:
A’ja Wilson scored eight of the Aces’ 27 points in the first quarter
Wilson moved to 13th on the WNBA’s all-time playoff defensive rebounds list, finishing today with 217 career defensive rebounds in the playoffs. She pulled down six defensive rebounds in tonight’s game. In the process, she passed Lindsay Whalen (214 career defensive rebounds in the playoffs, ranked 14th all time) and Tina Thompson (216 career defensive rebounds in the playoffs, ranked 13th all time)
Wilson’s three blocks in the second quarter tied her postseason career high for blocks in a quarter (Tied a mark she set in the fourth quarter of a 9/11/22 playoff game against Connecticut)
Jackie Young passed Kayla McBride (25 three-pointers in the playoffs in Aces career) for fifth on the Aces’ all-time postseason three-pointers list, finishing today with 26 career postseason threes with Las Vegas
Young scored six of the Aces’ 17 points in the third quarter
Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young combined to score 10 points and six assists in the first quarter
Gray accounted for 12 of Las Vegas’s 26 points scored in the second quarter (six points, six points created from assists)
Gray scored six of the Aces’ 17 points in the fourth quarter
Gray finished tonight with 20 points, seven assists, four rebounds, two blocks and two steals, the fifth player to post that stat line or better in a WNBA postseason game in league history (Across the Timeline)
Kelsey Plum scored nine of the Aces’ 26 points scored in the second quarter
Kiah Stokes pulled down nine rebounds in the first half, her postseason career high for rebounds in a half (Previous: eight rebounds in a playoff half, twice)
All Aces starters scored at least two points by the end of the first quarter
Four of the Aces starters (Plum – 13 points, Wilson – 10 points, Gray – 10 points, Young – 10 points) scored in double figures by the end of the first half
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