A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces top Kamilla Cardoso, Chicago Sky
CHICAGO -- As individual pregame workouts wound down, there were two players remaining on the floor inside the United Center. Four-time MVP A'ja Wilson stood at one elbow working on jab-step jump shots before going around the 3-point arc. On the opposite end, Kamilla Cardoso went through spinning layups and catch-and-shoot jumpers.
There was a South Carolina takeover in Chicago on Sunday as Wilson and Cardoso represented two generations of Gamecocks centers -- and both put on a show in the Las Vegas Aces' 107-99 victory over the Chicago Sky.
Wilson posted 30 points and 15 rebounds for her 99th career game with 20 points and 10 rebounds. She trails only Tina Charles (109) for the most in league history. It was her WNBA-record eighth game with 30 and 15.
Cardoso finished with 24 points and eight rebounds while shooting 10-for-15 from the field.
"It's always so much fun going against her, because Kamilla's footwork is one of the best ever," Wilson said. "It kind of puts me in the frame of mind kind of like a Sylvia Fowles, the way that she can be light on her feet, the way that she can position herself to get the basketball to score in traffic. So, it's always hard to show her different looks.
"Seeing her growth from her rookie years to now, from South Carolina to now, it's been fun to kind of watch her shine in this space."
Cardoso has certainly been shining of late. She put up a career-high 30 points and eight rebounds Friday as she set a WNBA record of the most shots without a miss, going 13-for-13 from the field. That makes her the first center in league history to score 50-plus points on 80% shooting in a two-game span. She grabbed 14 rebounds Monday, totaled 26 points and nine rebounds last Saturday and has averaged 21.8 points in her past five games.
The two South Carolina products didn't guard each other for most of the game, but there were sequences. At one point in the first quarter, Wilson flew in from behind to block a Cardoso shot and then hit a jumper over the Sky center on the other end of the floor.
Still, the 2024 No. 4 draft pick found ways to get easy buckets around the rim as Las Vegas struggled to guard her and teammate Azura Stevens (season-high 24 points, six rebounds).
"Her size and where she catches the ball," Hammon said of Cardoso. "She turns and she's at the rim. We didn't have a great answer for her tonight, not very many teams do. So that's a credit to her. They're doing a really good job of kind of moving her and finding her, but her catch has become so deep that you can't even get help-side there quick enough to help out the big sometimes. She hurt us."
There was a brief moment of panic in the fourth quarter when Wilson hit the ground going for a loose ball and immediately grabbed an ankle. A gasp could be heard coming from fans in the stands. Wilson eventually got up under her own power and jogged off the court and up the tunnel. Not long after, she reemerged and took her normal seat on the bench. Wilson then nodded toward Hammon, gave a thumbs-up to someone in the crowd and checked back in. After the game, she said the ankle was taped up and feeling pretty good.
The Aces pulled away from the Sky in the second quarter and held on the rest of the way for an eight-point win. No one from Vegas was particularly happy as they lamented the defensive efforts. Hammon said they didn't beat the Sky, they just outscored them, and that's not the way they want to win games. Wilson said she didn't like the win "at all."
Jackie Young scored 28 and handed out eight assists while Chelsea Gray chipped in 18 points and eight assists for the Aces.
"You can't let great bigs like a Kamilla, like a 'Z' get too loose on you, and they did," Wilson said. "Our defense just was not it today. It just sucked across the board and I'll take full accountability there when it comes to just being the anchor."br/]
