Storm have better showing, but Aces complete season sweep

The Storm put together three much better quarters against the Las Vegas Aces, then the defending champions started playing like it.

The Aces made it a clean sweep of the Storm with a 103-77 victory Saturday night in Las Vegas.

The Aces had beaten the Storm by an average of 30 points in their first three meetings this season. The gap was two points when Jewell Loyd made two free throws with 1:11 left in the third quarter, but Las Vegas buckled down and opened up a 20-point lead six minutes later.

The main culprit was the same. Jackie Young had averaged 24.3 points and shot 66.7% from behind the arc against the Storm in three prior meetings. She hit back-to-back threes Saturday, then a jump shot to kick off the fourth quarter and spark her team.

Young finished the game with 22 points, trailing only teammate A’ja Wilson, who reached 30 and then called it a night early.

Loyd had 28 points to go with 10 rebounds and three assists.

Loyd set the All-Star Game scoring record in July. She became the Storm’s single-season scoring record holder in August. She can keep the trend going in September, and almost assuredly during the Storm’s next game Wednesday in Atlanta. At 852 points, Loyd trails Diana Taurasi’s record by just eight, a mark Taurasi set in 2006.

The Storm, who ended a three-game skid Thursday in beating the Los Angeles Sparks 72-61, were eliminated from playoff contention Aug. 27. The Aces, meanwhile, are still chasing the No. 1 seed in the WNBA playoffs.

Las Vegas tied a 13-year-old WNBA record for most times reaching or surpassing the 100-point mark in one season on Saturday night. The Aces have done it 10 times with two regular-season games remaining.