The Rookies Showed Up| The Veterans Rested| Liberty Take Aces 111-71

There is a version of this story that is easy to write the Las Vegas Aces got blown out 111-71 by the New York Liberty on Sunday in Brooklyn and it wasn't pretty. Third game in 65 and a half hours. No Chelsea Gray. No A'ja Wilson. No Jackie Young. No Cheyenne Parker-Tyus in concussion protocol. A 9-day, five-game road trip wrapping up against one of the best teams in the league.

That's one version.

Here's the version I want to tell.

Three rookies stepped into a situation that would have been difficult for veterans with years of experience and they competed. Ta'Niya Latson scored a team-high 20 points a career high. Mai Yamamoto finished with 16 points, 6 assists, and a career-high 4 three-pointers. Justine Pissott posted 11 points. The bench outscored the starters 52-19 the first time that has happened since June 15, 2021, also against New York. Every single Ace who was available to play scored at least 2 points.

That's the story I'm here to tell.

Ta'Niya Latson announced herself

20 points. Career high. On the road in Brooklyn against a Liberty team that had six players in double figures and was playing the kind of basketball that makes them one of the most feared rosters in the East. Latson was aggressive from the opening tip attacking, getting to her spots, refusing to back down from the moment. She had 9 of those points in the fourth quarter when most rookies would have been happy just to survive the night.

This is the same player who averaged over 21 points per game at Florida State before transferring to South Carolina to win a national championship. The talent was always there. Tonight the entire WNBA got a look at it.

Mai Yamamoto was special

16 points. 6 assists. 4 three-pointers a career high. Playing in one of the most difficult environments a young player can walk into, Yamamoto was making shots and making plays at the same time. The 6 assists showed a player who sees the floor and trusts her teammates. The 4 threes showed a player who is not afraid of the big moment. She had 5 points in the third quarter when the Aces were struggling to score and needed someone to step up. She stepped up.

Justine Pissott held her own

11 points and 8 points in the second quarter alone when the Aces were trying to keep this game within striking distance. Pissott has been developing quietly all season and tonight was her biggest moment yet.

The Liberty were excellent

Marine Johannes led everyone with 27 points 12 of them in the fourth quarter when New York was already in control and still refused to let up. Breanna Stewart. Jonquel Jones. Six players in double figures. The Liberty shot 53.3 percent from the field and won the paint battle 52-26. This is a team built to compete for a championship and they looked like it every minute of Sunday's game.

The context matters

The last time the Aces were without Gray, Wilson, and Young simultaneously was September 19, 2024. Those three players are the backbone of everything Las Vegas does the scoring, the playmaking, the leadership, the experience. Asking rookies to fill that void on the road in Brooklyn at the end of a five-game road trip is not a fair ask. And yet those rookies went out and competed anyway.

The bench outscoring the starters 52-19 for the first time since 2021 tells you everything about who carried this team tonight. It was the young players. The ones who are still learning. The ones who showed up anyway.

My take

This loss goes in the column of nights where the circumstances made the result almost inevitable. Exhausted, shorthanded, on the road, against a top team. Nobody is panicking about the Las Vegas Aces after this. They are 22-11 and they are coming home.

But Ta'Niya Latson, Mai Yamamoto, and Justine Pissott deserve their flowers today. They walked into one of the hardest situations a rookie can face and they didn't flinch. That's growth. That's the future of this franchise showing you what's coming.

The Aces return to The House for a five-game home stretch beginning Tuesday August 11 against Washington at 7pm. Gray, Wilson, and Young will be back. And after a nine-day road trip, Michelob Ultra Arena is going to feel like home in every sense of the word.