​A’ja Wilson produced 21 points and 15 rebounds, and rookie Justine Pissott shined with 19 points in a historic WNBA debut as the Las Vegas Aces demolished the Phoenix Mercury 106-58 on Saturday. The victory marked the largest margin of victory in Aces franchise history and tied for the third-largest in WNBA history. Las Vegas opened the game with a 9-0 run and built a 29-9 lead after the opening quarter, with Wilson contributing nine points to the burst. The advantage swelled to 37 points by halftime, tying the franchise record for the largest halftime margin. The Aces extended their lead to as many as 45 in the third period and were ahead 79-36 before Pissott sparked the offense.
Pissott subbed in to begin the fourth quarter and connected on her first triple less than a minute later, finishing 7-for-8 from the floor with five 3-pointers in the period—an all-time WNBA record for points scored in a single quarter by a player making her league debut. She eclipsed the previous mark of 14, which was shared by Zia Cooke and Candace Parker. Pissott had spent the previous week on Indiana’s practice roster before Las Vegas signed her. After entering, she credited coach Becky Hammon’s guidance for helping settle her nerves. “I was definitely nervous. Everyone kept telling me to shoot the ball with confidence, and Coach Becky just said, ‘Go in there and do what you do.’ Once she said that, I took a deep breath, relaxed, and just played my game,” Pissott said. Hammon added that Pissott’s impact went beyond scoring, noting strong basketball reads and decision-making. “That’s quite a debut for a rookie, 19 points in 10 minutes,” Hammon commented.
Wilson’s performance added to a milestone week as she logged her 131st career double-double, placing her fifth all-time in WNBA history. The All-Star forward also reached her 101st 20-point double-double, just behind Tina Charles’s 110, and she now owns 27 double-doubles this season, leading the league. Wilson also extended her streak of consecutive games scoring in double digits to 45, attributes much of the success to the defense-focused practices she and the team conducted during their Portland trip. “Going into Portland, I honestly can’t remember a practice where we worked on offense. Becky drilled defense into us over and over,” Wilson said. “We needed it. We still need it. This was a good performance, but we can still be better.”
Chelsea Gray contributed a double-double with 15 points and 11 assists, marking her 23rd career double-double, while the Aces accumulated 30 assists on 39 made field goals. Off the bench, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus matched a season high with 15 points and surpassed 1,000 career defensive rebounds. NaLyssa Smith added 14 points, helping Las Vegas finish with a dominating performance on the boards, outrebounding Phoenix 47-29.
On the Mercury side, Monique Akoa Makani led with 13 points, Lexi Held added 11, and DeWanna Bonner, who recently reached 8,000 career points, was held to just 2. Phoenix, already mired in a three-game slide, faced a crushing setback in Las Vegas as the Aces dominated the pace and tone from opening tip to final horn.
Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts called the outing ugly and disappointing on all fronts, hinting that the team would need to take a hard look at themselves in the coming days. “That was ugly. It was disappointing in every way. We’re going to find out a lot about ourselves on Monday based on how we respond. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us. We have to compete,” Tibbetts stated, underscoring the urgency for Phoenix to regroup after this lopsided setback.