The LA Sparks fell short in a tight game against the Las Vegas Aces, 86-82. Candace Parker recorded her fourth consecutive double-double, scoring 20 points and snatching 12 rebounds, but it was not enough to overcome the Aces, led by A’ja Wilson’s 26 points and 11 rebounds. Angel McCoughtry added 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Vegas and the Aces out-rebounded the Sparks 42-33.

The Sparks started off strong with an and-one from Sydney Wiese, who scored the first five points for the Sparks. But the Aces took control and after going up 22-19 at the end of the first quarter, started the second quarter on a 9-0 run to go up 31-19.

But Wiese, starting her second game of the season, continued her strong play, helping the Sparks go on a 10-1 run to close the gap to 32-29. Wiese scored 16 first-half points, the second-most points she’s scored in a half in her career (she previously scored 19 points in a half on May 19, 2017). The Aces led 43-42 at halftime.

The Sparks worked hard in the third quarter getting solid contributions from Marie Gülich (7 points and 5 rebounds), starting her first game of the season, and Kristine Anigwe (8 points) and took a one-point lead into the fourth quarter, 63-62.

The fourth quarter went back and forth until Wilson, who went scoreless in the third quarter, took over with 12 points in the fourth. 2019 No. 1 pick Jackie Young also had an explosive fourth quarter, scoring critical baskets down the stretch for Las Vegas. She finished with 15 points.

“Yea, I’ll take that one,” Wiese said after the game. “That’s who I was on in the last part of the fourth [quarter] and she was making great plays, what I was failing to do was cutting her off and making her go the other way. I was trying to get under the screen and I stopped short, so she had an angle to the basket and [she] made tough shots. They made plays down the stretch and Jackie was one of those players, and so I need to do a better job next time making sure that I take care of her any way that I can, just to make sure she doesn’t score.”

Chelsea Gray finished with 16 points and four assists and passed the 2,000 career points milestone. With the loss, the Sparks are now 3-3 and have a quick turnaround as they play Sunday, Aug. 9 against the Minnesota Lynx at Noon PT on ESPN.

“We still have high expectations,” Head Coach Derek Fisher said after the game. “We still know that we are going to be where we need to be at the right time, but there are no short-cuts to becoming great. So we can’t kid ourselves into thinking we can just show up and be great. It’s going to take time, going to take adversity, and it is going to take us asking ourselves the hard questions and finding the answers and solutions to get us where we are trying to get to. There is no short-cut or way around that, it’s hard work and a journey.”

Los Angeles Highlights:

· Candace Parker recorded her fourth consecutive double-double (20 points and 12 rebounds)

· Chelsea Gray eclipsed 2,000-point career points, making her the 122nd player to reach that mark.

· Three Sparks players finished in double-figures: Candace Parker (20), Chelsea Gray (16), and Sydney Wiese (18). Wiese scored 16 of her points in the first half.