LAS VEGAS (AP) — A'ja Wilson had 35 points and 13 rebounds and the Las Vegas Aces bounced back from a 20-point loss five days earlier to beat the Los Angeles Sparks 96-81 on Friday night.
This was the highest-scoring game for Wilson, who also had six assists, since her 41-point performance Sept. 1 at Phoenix. Jackie Young added 26 points for the Aces (3-2) and Chelsea Gray had 15.
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Los Angeles Sparks guard Odyssey Sims (0) drives against Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) blocks a shot by Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby (5) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) celebrates after making a 3-point shot against the Los Angeles Sparks during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) celebrates after a play against the Los Angeles Sparks during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Kelsey Plum led the Sparks (2-5) with 17 points, Odyssey Sims scored 15 points and former Dearica Hamby had 14. Plum and coach Lynne Roberts were hit with technical fouls for arguing with officials on separate occasions.
The Aces, expected to be WNBA title contenders, entered this game off a slow start to the season that included a 102-82 loss at Seattle on Sunday.
Las Vegas went on a 23-2 run before the Sparks closed the first quarter with a 15-5 spurt of their own to draw to within 28-21. But the Aces add 15-3 run in the second period to go up 54-36, and the outcome was not seriously in doubt after that.
Los Angeles made a late push, getting as close as eight points with 4:07 left.
This was Plum's first game in Las Vegas since she was part of the three-team trade in January in which the Aces acquired Loyd from Seattle.
The Sparks were without Rickea Jackson, who did not play because of personal reasons. Jackson averages 7.0 points per game.
Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard and Hall of Famer Tina Thompson sat courtside.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Los Angeles Sparks guard Odyssey Sims (0) drives against Las Vegas Aces guard Jewell Loyd (24) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) blocks a shot by Los Angeles Sparks forward Dearica Hamby (5) during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray (12) celebrates after making a 3-point shot against the Los Angeles Sparks during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) celebrates after a play against the Los Angeles Sparks during the first half of a WNBA basketball game Friday, May 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)
