Ionescu records WNBA's 1st 30-plus point triple-double in Liberty win over Aces

Sabrina Ionescu had 31 points in the highest-scoring triple-double in WNBA history and tied Candace Parker's league record of three triple-doubles in the New York Liberty's 116-107 victory over the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday night in Las Vegas.

Ionescu also had 13 rebounds and 10 assists. She hit a career-high seven three-pointers in eight tries and was 10 of 13 from the field overall.

The third-year pro has two triple-doubles this season. New York (9-12) set a franchise single-game scoring record and finished with a season-high 35 assists.

Han Xu, a six-foot-ten centre in her second WNBA season, had a career-high 24 points — 14 in the fourth quarter — on 10-of-11 shooting and tied her career best with eight rebounds for New York. Natasha Howard added 18 points.

A'ja Wilson had 29 points and nine rebounds for Las Vegas (15-7). Jackie Young scored 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting.

The Aces have lost back-to-back games and five of their last seven.

The Aces had already secured a berth into the 2022 Commissioner's Cup game against the Chicago on July 26 but missed a chance Wednesday night to play in Las Vegas. The defending WNBA champions Sky can wrap up home court for with a victory over Indiana on Thursday.

Delle Donne's season-high effort leads Mystics to win

Elena Delle Donne scored nine of her season-high 26 points in the fourth quarter and the Washington Mystics beat the Atlanta Dream 85-66 on Wednesday night in College Park, Ga.

Delle Donne was 10 of 17 from the field and had eight rebounds. Myisha Hines-Allen added 14 points, Natasha Cloud had 13, Shatori Walker-Kimbrough a season-high 12 and Ariel Atkins 10 for Washington (14-10).

Delle Donne scored 13 points in the first half, including a fadeaway from the right block and then stepped into a deep fast-break three-pointer — which gave the Mystics the lead for good — to spark a 9-0 run that made it 41-36 at halftime.

Washington scored nine consecutive points to make it 67-56 with six minutes to play after Delle Donne hit a short turn-around jumper. The Dream trailed by at least seven the rest of the way.

Monique Billings, Cheyenne Parker, Tiffany Hayes and Rhyne Howard scored 10 points apiece for Atlanta (10-12).

Howard played just eight and a half first-half minutes after picking up her second personal foul late in the first quarter and never found offensive rhythm. The No. 1 overall selection in April's draft, Howard went zero for six from three-point range and goes into her first WNBA All-Star game having four of her last 29 three-point shots over the past five games.

The Dream, which has lost six in a row against Washington, went zero for 13 from three-point range.

Grammy Award winning rapper 2 Chainz, a native of College Park, watched the game courtside.

Lynx snap Sky's 5-game win streak

Aerial Powers had 22 points and 11 rebounds, Kayla McBride added 15 points and the Minnesota Lynx beat Chicago 81-78 on Wednesday in Minneapolis, Minn., ending the Sky's five-game winning streak.

The Sky would need to beat Indiana on Thursday and have the Aces lose to New York later Wednesday to get the home game since the next tiebreaker is point-differential in Commissioner Cup games and Las Vegas owns that already.

Jessica Shepard converted a three-point play with one minute left to give Minnesota a 77-75 lead. Sylvia Fowles added two free throws at the 33.7 second mark for a four-point lead, but Candace Parker answered with a three-pointer to pull Chicago within 79-78.

McBride made two free throws with 12.4 left to give Minnesota an 81-78 lead and Chicago's Allie Quigley missed two three-pointers at the other end.

Sylvia Fowles had 14 points and seven rebounds and Shepard finished with 10 points for Minnesota.

Kahleah Copper scored 20 points and Quigley added 18 for Chicago (16-5). Parker had 13 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

Chicago scored nine unanswered points midway through the fourth quarter, tying it at 70 on Parker's three-pointer. Quigley added another three-pointer with three minutes left to give Chicago its first lead, 73-72, since it was 5-4.