Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson power Las Vegas Aces past Seattle Storm

Two teams heading in opposite directions met at Climate Pledge Arena on Thursday night in a game featuring the last-place Storm and the defending WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

This wasn’t a measuring-stick matchup because Seattle, which has three games remaining, is seemingly several years away from seriously competing with Aces, who are gunning for their fourth title in the past five years when the playoffs begin Sept. 27.

Still, that’s not to say there weren’t a few nice moments for the sellout crowd of 14,200 to enjoy.

Flau’jae Johnson recovered from a slow start and scored a team-high 25 points, but the Storm couldn’t slow down Jackie Young and A’ja Wilson, who combined for 64 points and led the Aces to a dominant 114-77 drubbing while capturing the best-of-three season series.

“It’s kind of embarrassing, honestly,” guard Natisha Hiedeman said. “We weren’t getting back in transition. One hundred and fourteen points for them. I mean is that like a record this year? Probably. Or close? Well, 114 is terrible. We gave up 114 points.”

To be sure, the Toronto Tempo scored a season-high 125 points against the Los Angeles Sparks in June.

However, 114 points is the most ever scored against the Storm.

“It was disappointing. We hold ourselves to a higher standard than that,” coach Sonia Raman said. “I know that they were battling, right. They were trying as much as they could, but I think that there was probably things that were within our control that we could have been better at tonight. They know that. I know that, and I think that’s something that we’re going to very quickly lock in on for our next game.”

Addressing the defensive concerns would be a good place to start for the Storm, who have allowed three of the four highest scoring games in franchise history this year.

At the start, both teams looked out of sync in their first game since returning from a two-week layoff due to the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.

“It’s a funky rhythm for everybody,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said before the game. “Everybody’s going to have to kind of just dive right in and hit the ground running. Every team is in the same kind of situation to a certain degree. Obviously, with how many players you have gone, it hits us a little bit differently.”

The Storm had four players (Dominique Malonga, Awa Fam, Ezi Magbegor and Jade Melbourne) compete in the World Cup as did the Aces (Young, Chelsea Gray, Stephanie Talbot and Mai Yamamoto).

The rust was evident for everyone except for Young.

The five-time All-Star guard canned eight of her first nine shots, including three three-pointers, while tallying all but three points for the Aces and personally outscoring the Storm 22-13 in the first quarter.

Seattle never put up a fight the rest of the way.

“It’s a real learning experience for me just going on a break like that and coming back prepared,” Johnson said. “I didn’t feel like I came back fully prepared, especially in the first half. A lot of just confusion. A lot of me being indecisive, and I think that’s to do with the break that we had.

“It’s a lot of things that we’re battling right now and it’s no excuse. But that’s a championship team right there. They got two of the best players in the world on their team. We could have did a much better job containing Jackie Young.”

Following a couple of Young free throws, Las Vegas extended its lead to 52-31 just before halftime and Wilson’s layup shortly after the break put the Aces ahead 58-34.

Young finished with a game-high 35 points on 12-for-18 shooting and Wilson, the presumptive MVP leading candidate, had 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

Dana Evans and Kalani Brown each added 10 points for the Aces, who improved to 28-13.

Hiedeman returned from a five-game layoff because of a left shoulder injury and finished with 12 points and seven assists. Malonga had 10 points, and Stephanie Dolson added 11 off the bench.

However, the short-handed Storm were without Magbegor (knee), Melbourne (illness), Jordan Horston (shoulder) and Katie Lou Samuelson (knee). Making matters worse, Zia Cooke, who started for Melbourne, left in the third quarter after appearing to suffer an ankle injury and didn’t return.

The Storm fell to 8-33, which is one loss shy of the record set by the Dallas Wings and Chicago Sky last year.

Seattle embarks on its final road trip, which includes Saturday’s game at Golden State before a rematch against the Aces on Sunday.

The Storm return next week for their season finale versus the Dallas Wings on Wednesday.

BOX SCORE