Defensive-minded Liberty take on Aces

The New York Liberty can move closer to clinching the top seed in the upcoming WNBA playoffs with a win, and/or losses by second- and third-place teams Minnesota and Connecticut, when they host the fourth-place Las Vegas Aces on Sunday afternoon.

The game between the Liberty (28-6) and Aces (22-12) could end up being a playoff preview should the teams advance in the postseason. They reached the WNBA Finals last season, won by the Aces in four games.

The Liberty are coming off a 77-70 win over the Seattle Storm at home on Thursday. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, in her fourth game since right knee surgery about six weeks ago, scored 18 points in her return to the starting lineup.

Sabrina Ionescu made three 3-pointers to extend her streak of regular-season games with at least one made 3 to 57, the second-longest such streak in WNBA history.

Defense led to offense for New York.

"Our defense is our moneymaker," forward Kennedy Burke told the New York Daily News.

The Aces are led by two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player and leading 2024 MVP candidate A'ja Wilson, who tops the league in scoring average at 27.3 points per game and is second in rebounding at 11.9 per game. Wilson had 20 points with eight rebounds in the Aces' 72-67 road win over the third-seeded Connecticut Sun on Friday.

Las Vegas still has a chance to move up to the No. 3 seed in the league before the regular season ends later this month.

Kelsey Plum's 27 points led the Aces, who trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half.

"It didn't start great at all," Plum told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "But this year, we really haven't had a ton of things go our way, so it's kind of cool to see it fall the way it did, especially late (in the) game."

The Liberty won the teams' first two meetings this season, but the Aces are on a four-game winning streak.

--Field Level Media