A'ja Wilson becomes first player in WNBA history to accomplish historic feat
Former South Carolina star A’ja Wilson has already accomplished some impressive feats during her prolific basketball career. The two-time WNBA MVP has not only won two league titles, she’s also been named an All-Star five times, among numerous other honors and accolades. And she continues to add to her legacy every night she steps foot on the floor. On Wednesday evening, in the Aces 95-81 victory over the Dallas Wings, Wilson stuffed the stat sheet with historic numbers.
She became the first player in WNBA history with 35 points, 10 rebounds, and five steals in a game. Once the smoke had cleared, the former South Carolina star had 36 points, 12 rebounds, six steals, and one block. Not only that, but she did also it while shooting 68% from the field.
Kelsey Plum stuffed the stat sheet with 20 points, three rebounds, and three assists in the win for the Aces. Las Vegas also got 19 points, seven assists, and six rebounds from Jackie Young.
The Aces ended up hitting just a few more threes on Wednesday night, which ended up being the difference in the final score. They were 9 of 28 from beyond-the-arc, whereas the Wings only hit 5 of their 25 shots from deep. The Wings got double digit scoring efforts from four different players including a stat line of 31 points, seven assists, and four rebounds from Arike Ogunbowale.
With the win, the Aces moved to 5-2 overall this year. They’ve won the WNBA Championship in each of the past two seasons (2022 and 2023).
A’ja Wilson recently shared her thoughts on the WNBA and the attention the league has been receiving this year
Wilson recently discussed a number of topics during an interview with Boardroom, including the WNBA needing to take advantage of all the attention it is currently receiving.
“It’s like we know the moment is coming, but we don’t know how to just be ready for it,” A’ja Wilson said. “I feel like sometimes we have to let stuff hit the fan to then be like, ‘Oh, snap.’ And we can’t do that now. That may have worked years ago, but right now, in the moment, we have to be ready for anything. Because the first impression has to be the best impression when we’re talking about the WNBA.
“So I think for us, as the W, and I’m speaking for an entire league right now, which is scary. We have to really be better at being ready and in the moment.”
The league rebounded nicely on regular season opening night, with Caitlin Clark and the Fever bringing in more than 2 million viewers.
Wilson hopes that the newfound attention the league is getting is here to stay.
“We’re in a movement, and I pray it’s a movement and not a trend, because we die down very, very quickly. People die down. The hype can be here and then it drops,” Wilson said. “But the movement, I feel like we have to do a better job of understanding what the movement is and being ready for that and knowing that this is the growth that we’ve been wanting, this is the growth that we’ve needed and now it’s about time.”
“So now it’s like, ‘No, people watch us.’ We’re not getting the ‘go back in the kitchen’ comments, the ‘make me a sandwich’ comments. It’s like, ‘No, fly us out.’ People are in my mentions saying, ‘We want to get flown out.’
On3’s Matt Connolly also contributed to this article.