LAS VEGAS — The reigning WNBA champions are headed back to the semifinals. The No. 3 seed Las Vegas Aces held court in a decisive Game 3 to beat the No. 6 seed Indiana Fever 94-83.
The Aces will face the winner of Friday’s Golden State Valkyries–Dallas Wings game in Sunday’s semifinals. The New York Liberty will play the Atlanta Dream on the other side of the bracket.
A’ja Wilson led Las Vegas with 36 points in 37 minutes. For Indiana, Kelsey Mitchell had 23 points, and Caitlin Clark added 18.
The Fever had the WNBA’s highest-scoring offense this season — breaking multiple records — but were again held below their 96.0 points-per-game average in the regular season. They shot 28% (9-for-32) from behind the arc after a league-best 38.6% in the regular season.
ESPN was courtside in Las Vegas tracking all the action. Here’s how the Aces reached the semifinals.
JUMP TO: How the Aces won | Re-live the live coverage
How the Aces won: Obviously, there was a lot of Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young for the Aces. But they also got a lift from Jewell Loyd, who started just her fourth game of the season in place of Stephanie Talbot, who was ruled out shortly before the game because of a leg injury. Starting is nothing new for Loyd, who did so for most of her WNBA career, but she has found her niche more coming off the bench with the Aces. On Thursday, she was back in the starting lineup, played 35 minutes and had 11 points and three rebounds, while having a lot of the defensive assignment against Indiana’s Caitlin Clark. The Aces have an amazing trio, but on this night, they got the help they needed from others to advance to the semifinals. — Michael Voepel
What it means for the Fever: They made it an entertaining series, but in the grand scheme of things, 2026 will be considered a disappointment. The No. 1 offense in the league, with Kelsey Mitchell finishing as the No. 2 scorer and Clark at No. 3 and No. 2 in assists, is a recipe that should have yielded a higher seed than No. 6 for the third consecutive year. This was a championship-contending roster, and a first-round exit after being an overtime period from the 2025 Finals with a decimated roster did not meet expectations.
Now, the Fever need to bring back Mitchell, an unrestricted free agent, to keep their big three. There were fantastic moments throughout the season, especially with Clark and Mitchell breaking moments regularly. But the defense was the Achilles’ heel that couldn’t be overcome. — Kareem Copeland
How would you characterize Indiana’s season: disappointment or growth? It’s a little bit of both. There were some steps forward for the Fever — they won a franchise-record 28 games, had the top-ranked offense in the league and scored a league-high 96 points per game, a WNBA record. There were moments, especially during a run in July and August when the Fever won 10 of 12 games, that it felt and looked like all of the momentum was on their side and they could make a run all the way to the Finals.
But inconsistencies plagued them in the season’s final games and they ended up the sixth seed. Like Kareem said above, that can only be described as a disappointment — they finished in the exact same seeding they did a year ago and were eliminated one series earlier. It’s less about losing to the Aces in three games, and more about the fact that they had to face them in the first round in the first place. — Kendra Andrews
Do the Aces have the best big three left in the playoffs? It’s hard to bet against A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. They have experience, championship DNA and long-established chemistry. Yes, New York’s big three have a title under their belt as well, and Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones showed out to make the Liberty the first No. 8 seed to take down a No. 1 team in WNBA history. Angel Reese, Rhyne Howard and Allisha Gray have made Atlanta one of the hottest teams in the league, especially in how they finished the regular season. Golden State’s Veronica Burton, Gabby Williams and Kayla Thornton are menaces on defense.
But Wilson, Gray and Young taking over a game almost feels inevitable. No matter the circumstances and no matter who they are facing, you know exactly what to expect from those three players: domination. — Andrews
Looking ahead, how might the Aces match up against the Wings or Valkyries? The Aces swept the three-game regular-season series against the Valkyries, with the closest game decided by five points. On June 21 (their most recent matchup), Las Vegas won by 19. Golden State struggled to score efficiently against Las Vegas, averaging 77.7 points and shooting just 32% from three across their regular-season games.
As much of a defensive juggernaut that the Valkyries are, they don’t have a direct matchup for Wilson. She averaged 25.0 points — and Young 23.7 points — against the Valkyries during the regular season, the top two individual point averages against Golden State this season. Golden State doesn’t hesitate to throw multiple bodies at a defender to shut her down, and if they can do that successfully on Wilson, the Valkyries defense could give them a chance to control the game. But if Wilson forces them to defend her one-on-one, it will be far more challenging.
The Wings performed extremely well against the Aces during the regular season, winning two of the three matchups and holding the Aces to an 84-point average — seven points below their season average. But if Dallas wants to have continued success, the Wings need more production from Jessica Shepard than what she has done so far in the first round. Her size down low was crucial going against Las Vegas’ length. Wilson is a matchup problem for anyone in the league, but the guard matchups in this potential series would be exciting to watch: Paige Bueckers and Arike Ogunbowale against Gray and Young. — Andrews
