Gamecock great A’ja Wilson wins first WNBA Finals with Las Vegas Aces
Former South Carolina Gamecocks standout and 2017 college basketball national champion A’ja Wilson added to her trophy case Sunday.
Wilson won her first WNBA championship with the Las Vegas Aces, which defeated the Connecticut Sun 78-71 in a back-and-forth Game 4 of the WNBA Finals.
The Heathwood Hall product posted 11 points and 14 rebounds in the closeout win. Wilson averaged 20 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game during the Finals.
This was the first WNBA championship in Aces history.
“This is amazing,” Wilson said on the broadcast after the game. “Our team fought through. We were resilient, we held each other accountable. We just stuck it through.”
Wilson earned her second career league MVP earlier this month, while she also won the Defensive Player of the Year in August.
Gamecocks head coach Dawn Staley, who coached Wilson at South Carolina, supported her former player and the Aces on Twitter consistently throughout the postseason.
“I’m so freaking happy for you!” Staley tweeted. “So very happy! You worked. You earned. You deserved!”
Wilson was named Most Outstanding Player of the 2017 NCAA tournament during USC’s run to a title. She also earned consensus National Player of the Year honors in 2018, and was named SEC Player of the Year three times while in Columbia.
The Aces selected Wilson first overall in the 2018 WNBA Draft. She previously guided the organization to the WNBA Finals in 2020, but fell to the Seattle Storm.
Through five WNBA seasons, Wilson now owns one championship, two MVP awards, a Defensive Player of the Year award, four all-star appearances and two first-team All-WNBA honors.
This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 6:22 PM.
