Sky’s Angel Reese extends 20-rebound streak A’ja Wilson snatchs Aces

Angel Reese of the Sky scored 22 rebounds and set record for the WNBA record for the highest number of double-doubles for a rookie, however, A’ja Wilson and the Aces took the lead at the final buzzer.

By Michael Voepel

Aug 25, 2024 08:30 PM

Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese on Sunday played her third straight game of minimum 20 or more rebounds as well as tying the WNBA record for the highest double-doubles for rookies with 22.

Reese scored 22 rebounds and 11 points however, the Sky fell the game 77-75 against the twice champions of the title Las Vegas Aces on the MVP frontrunner A’ja Wilson‘s basket at the buzzer.

Reese on Friday was one of the the first WNBA player to play back-to-back 20 rebound games.

The the last NBA player to break the 20-rebound threshold for three consecutive matches included Ben Wallace with the Detroit Pistons in 2003. The final NBA player prior to Wallace to achieve that feat (or more) is Wilt Chamberlain. He had many streaks like this in 1973 while playing for his team the Los Angeles Lakers.

Reese’s 22 double-doubles are equal to the record for rookies set by Tina Charles in 2010, while she was playing for Connecticut. The total WNBA record of double-doubles for the season is 28 for the Connecticut team’s Alyssa Thomas who set it in the previous season.

Reese is just a few short of tying Charles his single-game rookie record for rebounding of 23. The Sky set the season’s single-game record this season with 47 rebounds, while the Aces scored 44.

Reese was 4-of-16 on the field on Sunday. Neither team hit the ball very well: 38.3% for the Aces, 36.6% for the Sky. Wilson missed her career-high twenty shots (8-of-28) and then struck the one that won the game -off an inbounds ball from Chelsea Gray.

Wilson hit the 4,500-point career milestone on Sunday, and did it in just 217 games. This puts her in line to the New York’s Breanna Stewart for the most rapid player in WNBA history to achieve this mark. The league’s most prolific scoring player the Arizona’s Diana Taurasi reached the 4,500 mark after 219 games.

Wilson’s game-winning goal came right following Sky guard Chennedy Carter scored a three-pointer to draw the game to. Carter scored 25 points in the game.

The Aces increased their record to 18-11 following the victory. The Sky have dropped to 11-18. they’ve lost three games in a row, and four out of 5 since WNBA returned to play following their Olympic break. Sky are 4-10 on the road. Sky are 4-10 in home games this season.

Chicago is now holding an advantage of half-games in the race against Atlanta (10-18) in the race for eight and the final playoff place in the playoffs.