FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs Sky - 7/26/2020

Recap: Aces vs Sky – 7/26/2020

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The Las Vegas Aces tipped off their 2020 season on Sunday afternoon against the Chicago Sky. It wasn’t the start the Aces wanted to have, as they fell to the Sky 88-86.

The Sky’s Kahleah Copper scored 18 points, and Allie Quigley sank a clutch 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left in regulation, as the Sky scored the final 11 points to beat the Aces. Angel McCoughtry scored 25 points and eight rebounds in her debut with Las Vegas. She signed with the Aces this offseason after she missed all of last season with the Atlanta Dream with a knee injury.

“I’m so blessed and glad to be out there; it was so surreal for me because I hadn’t been out there for so long,” McCoughtry, 33, said. “I think I should have led better in the end. That’s my pet peeve; when you have that game and you just let it slip through your fingers. It’s a learning experience.”

Las Vegas Aces center Liz Cambage received a medical exemption for this WNBA season, coach Bill Laimbeer confirmed to the media on Wednesday, which means she will get her full salary despite not playing this season.

Cambage fell ill while playing over in China over the winter and was ruled a medically high-risk player by the Aces’ team doctor in June. She then had to wait to see if the WNBA would challenge that, but Laimbeer said it did not.

Cambage isn’t the only Aces’ player that will miss this season. Point guard Kelsey Plum, who was slated to start at point guard, tore her Achilles tendon and is out for the season. Plum proved herself in Las Vegas’ postseason run, always pushing the pace, and it gave the Aces’ offense instant excitability. She consistently caused discomfort and wreaked havoc on opposing team’s defenses last year.

Forward and former #1 overall pick A’ja Wilson will now have her opportunity to make the Aces’ her team, at least for the 2020 season. Wilson had 22 points, eleven rebounds, and three assists for the Aces’ on Sunday, but it came down to the final possession, and the Aces couldn’t get it right.

In the final seconds of the game, Aces’ Sugar Rodgers attempted and missed a 3-pointer. Las Vegas kept the possession after the ball was knocked out of bounds by a Chicago player. The Aces’ then tried to inbound the ball, but instead, it was knocked away as time expired.

The Aces forward Dearica Hamby made a layup to give Las Vegas an 86-77 lead with 4:29 to play in the game, but Las Vegas stumbled down the stretch and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The Aces went 0 for ten from the field with three turnovers the rest of the way, and it allowed the Sky to steal the win.

For Angel McCoughtry, it has been a long journey back from her torn ACL, as well as becoming a leader off the court.

McCoughtry was a former #1 over pick draft pick by the Atlanta Dream back in 2009 out of Louisville. She was with the Dream until signing with Las Vegas as a free agent this past February. Her last WNBA game ironically was against the Aces back on Aug. 7, 2018, when she tore the ACL in her left knee and missed the rest of the season.

When asked how McCoughtry played in her first game back, the Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer said, “She made some big plays for us.” Laimbeer also said he doesn’t expect this to be the norm with her as the season goes on.

It was also McCoughtry’s idea to have Breonaa Taylor’s name on the backs of players’ jerseys this season. The WNBA also observed 26 seconds of remembrance for Breonna Taylor.

 Taylor was shot and killed by police in her apartment in Louisville, Kentucky, back in March when plainclothes police officers entered the residence while executing a “no-knock” search warrant.

The police officers who killed Breonna Taylor still have not been charged with her murder.

Taylor’s death, followed by the death of George Floyd, after a white Minneapolis police officer kneeled on his neck for over 8-minutes minutes in May, sparked civil rights and social justice protests and conversations across the country.

“People are recognizing all the initiatives to bring change into our country,” said the former Louisville Cardinals star McCoughtry. “For Breonna Taylor’s family, they deserve justice.”

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-Joe Arrigo – Franchise Sports Media 

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