LAS VEGAS (AP) — Rickea Jackson scored a career-high 30 points, Azura Stevens had 19 points and 10 rebounds and the Los Angeles Sparks beat the Las Vegas Aces 97-89 on Wednesday night.
The Aces were without star center A’ja Wilson for the final 11 minutes of the game after she left with 1:17 left in the third quarter with a head injury. She was accidentally hit in the face on Dearica Hamby's drive to the basket.
Jackson went 11 of 17 from the field, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range, and 4 of 5 at the free-throw line to top her previous best of 25 points against Dallas last season.
Hamby scored 19 points for Los Angeles (4-7) to go with eight rebounds and seven assists. Kelsey Plum had 13 points and nine assists against her former team.
Jackie Young tied her career high with 34 points and Chelsea Gray added 28 for Las Vegas (4-4), which has lost two straight games. Wilson was 2 of 12 from the field and 9 of 10 at the free-throw line to finish with 13 points, eight rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes.
Young scored 14 straight Las Vegas points in the second quarter.
Hamby, Stevens and Jackson all scored in double figures in the first half to help Los Angeles build a 50-41 lead.
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) picks off a pass intended for Los Angeles Sparks guard Odyssey Sims (0) during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Los Angeles Sparks guard Sarah Ashlee Barker (13) is congratulated by teammate Azura Stevens (23) after making a three-point basket against the Las Vegas Aces during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Los Angeles Sparks guard Kelsey Plum (10) drives against Las Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) during the first half of an WNBA basketball game Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Steve Marcus/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday. Meanwhile, thousands of residents were still without power in Kyiv, following an intense Russian bombardment.
A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, Voronezh regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.
Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
Ukraine's General Staff said Sunday said its forces hit three drilling platforms operated by Russian oil giant Lukoil in the waters of the Caspian Sea. Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on Russian energy sites aim to deprive Moscow of the oil export revenue it needs to pursue its full-scale invasion.
The attacks came after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials. For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.
Ukraine’s largest private energy supplier, DTEK, said Sunday that 30,000 people in Kyiv were still without power following the attack. Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Friday around half the apartment buildings — nearly 6,000 — in snowy Kyiv were left without heat in daytime temperatures of about minus 8 degrees Celsius (17.6 Fahrenheit).
The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”
Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners on Saturday, he said.
Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s main intelligence directorate said Sunday that Russia this month deployed the new jet-powered “Geran-5” strike drone against Ukraine for the first time. The Geran is a Russian variant of the Iranian-designed Shahed.
According to the directorate, the drone can carry a 90-kilogram (200-pound) warhead and has a range of nearly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)
