Page 14 - aruba-today-20220912

A14 sports
Monday 12 SepteMber 2022
Wilson’s double-double leads Aces to 67-64 win over Sun

W.G. RAMIREZ one attempt in the period.
Associated Press The Sun wasted no time
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A'ja Wil- in getting back into the
son had 24 points and 11 re- game, opening the second
bounds and the Las Vegas quarter by scoring the first
Aces beat the Connecti- six points to pull within two,
cut Sun 67-64 on Sunday in and eventually took a one-
Game 1 of the WNBA Finals. point lead at 30-29 behind
The Aces staved off a late 13-4 run. The Aces shot a
run by the Sun, who near- dreadful 3 for 15 (20%) and
ly erased a seven-point was outscored 21-9 in the
deficit with 1:24 left when second quarter.
Alyssa Thomas hit back- The Sun finished 9 of 14
to-back shots to pull Con- (64.2%) in the quarter and
necticut within three. But hit 17 of 42 (40.4%) in the
DeWanna Bonner's desper- first half.
ation 3-point attempt to tie "We can't let them get
the game fell short as time rockin' and rollin' like that,"
expired. Wilson said.
Chelsea Gray finished COURTSIDE CLUB
with 21 points for Las Ve- In attendance for Game
gas, while Jackie Young 1 included Vegas Golden
chipped in 11 as the fran- Las Vegas Aces forward A'ja Wilson (22) posts up for a shot over Connecticut Sun center Brionna Knights defenseman Shea
chise won their first WNBA Jones during the first half in Game 1 of a WNBA basketball final playoff series Sunday, Sept. 11, Theodore, Miami Heat
Finals game in franchise his- 2022, in Las Vegas. guard Kyle Lowry, Mem-
tory. They had been swept Associated Press phis Grizzlies guard Ja Mo-
in 2008 when the team was close the third quarter and quarter and provided an nal two games of the semi- rant, free agent DeMarcus
in San Antonio and lost in seize momentum for the immediate spark for the finals. Cousins and Los Angeles
three games in 2020. final period before a fren- Aces with a pair of offen- The Aces set the tone early Clippers coach Ty Lue.
"Coming from being swept zied record sold out gath- sive rebounds, a put back by taking a 12-5 lead with EXHIBITION, EH?
and actually getting one. ering of 10,135. under the basket, two as- Wilson leading the charge Commissioner Cathy Engel-
Pretty happy about this Thomas led Connecticut sists and a steal, as the Aces by scoring six of their points. bert announced during her
one," Wilson said. "Not go- with 19 points and 11 re- clawed their way back to Wilson scored 12 of her pregame press conference
ing to dwell on it long as we bounds. Jonquel Jones turn a six-point point defi- points in the first quarter, that the WNBA will hold a
have a really tough Game added 15 points, Brionna cit into a two-point lead as Las Vegas shot 56.3% (9 preseason exhibition game
2 coming up." Jones came off the bench heading into the final peri- of 16) from the floor. Con- in Canada next year with
After squandering a first- to score 12 and Natasha Hi- od. Hamby missed the final necticut finished the open- hopes of continuing global
quarter lead, and allowing edeman contributed with month of the regular sea- ing quarter hitting 8 of 18 exposure for the league.
the Sun to control the sec- 10. son with a knee injury. (47.6%). This will be the first time
ond and carry momentum Dearica Hamby came off She didn't play in the first And while the Aces were since 2011 that the WNBA
in the third, the Aces out- the bench a bit past the round of the playoffs and 5 of 7 from the free-throw has played an international
scored Connecticut 13-3 to midway point of the third was used sparingly in the fi- line, the Sun didn't have game.q

Evenepoel clinches Vuelta title to

become Grand Tour winner

poel said. "I think we can "Now it really sinks in, it's last competitive stage on
be really proud of what we really official," he said. "Al- Saturday.
did the last three weeks." ready yesterday the emo- Evenepoel ended 2 min-
It was a statement win for tions were quite high. We utes, 2 seconds ahead of
Evenepoel, who became were actually there but we Mas of team Movistar. An-
the first Belgian to win a ma- still had to finish the race other Spaniard was third,
jor three-week event since safe and in a good way. with Juan Ayuso finishing
Johan De Muynck won the We enjoyed as much as nearly five minutes off the
Giro d'Italia in 1978. It was possible and now we can lead with UAE Team Emir-
Belgian Remco Evenepoel of Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, center, also sweet redemption for really enjoy." ates.
celebrates with teammates after winning the Vuelta cycling his father, Patrick Evene- Colombian Juan Sebastian Evenepoel didn't have to
race, in Madrid, Spain, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. poel, who finished 113th of Molano of UAE Team Emir- worry about three-time de-
Associated Press 114 riders in the Vuelta in ates won the closing 21st fending champion Primoz
By TALES AZZONI ago, his loyalty to team- 1993. stage in Madrid, ahead of Roglic, who had to retire
AP Sports Writer mates was being ques- Evenepoel crossed the fin- Mads Pedersen and Pascal because of injuries sus-
MADRID (AP) — Remco tioned by a cycling great. ish line one last time while Akermann. tained in a crash near the
Evenepoel put some tough It was all forgotten as the wearing the leader's red Evenepoel, who held the end of the 16th stage. Also
times behind him with the 22-year-old Evenepoel jersey in Sunday's celebra- red jersey since taking the not contending at the end
biggest win of his career on from team Quick-Step Al- tory final stage through the lead in the sixth stage and was 2018 Vuelta winner Si-
Sunday. pha Vinyl won the Spanish streets of the Spanish capi- overcame a hard crash mon Yates, who was one of
Two years ago, he was fly- Vuelta for his first Grand tal, then got a hug and a in the 12th stage, had se- the many riders who had to
ing off a bridge in a horrific Tour victory. kiss from his partner before cured the victory by hold- withdraw during the race
crash that left him hospital- "It's history for team, for my raising his bicycle overhead ing off Enric Mas and the because of positive coro-
ized for several days. A year country, for myself," Evene- in front of his teammates. rest of his challengers in the navirus tests.q