Defending champion Aces rout Storm in opener
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SEATTLE (AP) — Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum both scored 23 points, and the Las Vegas Aces opened defense of their WNBA championship with a 105-64 win over the Seattle Storm on Saturday.
The rematch of last year’s WNBA semifinal series won by the Aces in four games on their way to the title featured several changes and absences from that playoff series.
Most notable, Las Vegas was without head coach Becky Hammon following her two-game suspension by the league earlier this week following an investigation into former Aces player Dearica Hamby saying she had been bullied and manipulated for being pregnant.
Hammon denied that Hamby was bullied for being pregnant, saying any ill feelings between the two came from Hamby being traded.
But the Aces didn’t miss a beat without their head coach on the sideline. Acting head coach Tyler Marsh just had to decide which combinations of the Aces star-studded roster to call upon, all under the watchful and approving eye of owner Mark Davis looking on from his baseline seat.