PHOENIX (AP) — Jackie Young scored 21 of her career-high 34 points in the second quarter, A’ja Wilson had 32 points and 15 rebounds, and the Las Vegas Aces beat the Phoenix Mercury 103-99 on Thursday night to end a three-game skid.
Young and Wilson became the third duo in franchise history to each score 30-plus points in a game. Wilson scored 25-plus points for the eighth straight game to pass Tina Charles’ WNBA record of seven.
Brittney Griner had 25 points and nine rebounds for Phoenix (6-7), Diana Taurasi added 22 points and Kahleah Copper scored 18.
Las Vegas (6-5) scored a season-low 12 points in the first quarter before erupting with 42 in the second — behind 10 for 10 shooting from 3-point range — for a 54-51 halftime lead. Young scored five 3-pointers in the second.
The 21 points was the most in any quarter in Young’s career.
Wilson — who scored 10 of Las Vegas’ 12 first-quarter points — and Kelsey Plum each made a 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions to give Las Vegas its first lead, 49-46, since it was 2-0.
Alysha Clark made a 3-pointer from the corner with 2:12 remaining to give Las Vegas a 95-91 lead. She added two free throws on the next possession and Young made it 99-95 on a jumper from the free-throw line with 46.3 left.
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Plum finished with 16 points for Las Vegas (6-5). Wilson was 11 of 11 from the free-throw line and the Aces finished 24 of 25. Phoenix was 13 of 15.
Taurasi has 21 games with at least 20 points at the age of 40 or older, surpassing Michael Jordan for the most of any player in NBA or WNBA history.