LAS VEGAS (AP) — A’ja Wilson scored 29 points on Sunday night to help the No. 2 seed Las Vegas Aces beat the seventh-seeded Seattle Storm 102-77 in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round playoff series.
Las Vegas closed the season with 16 consecutive wins, tying the 2014 Phoenix Mercury for the second-longest regular-season win streak in WNBA history. Las Vegas can advance to the semifinals with a win in Game 2 on Tuesday in Seattle.
Jackie Young had 18 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals for the Aces. Jewell Loyd scored 14 points, Dana Evans 13 and NaLyssa Smith had 11 points and nine rebounds.
Gabby Williams led the Storm with 16 points and Dominique Malonga had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Skylar Diggins also scored 12 points and Nneka Ogwumike added 11.
Loyd, who spent her first 10 seasons with Seattle and was traded to the Aces in January, scored seven points and Wilson added six an in a 17-7 opening run and Las Vegas never trailed. Chelsea Gray hit a 3-pointer that made it a 12-point lead late in the first quarter.
Erica Wheeler hit a 3-pointer about a minute into the second quarter that trimmed the Storm's deficit to 22-17 but Evans hit a 3 and then a short jumper to cap a 9-0 spurt that made it a 14-point lead with 5:56 left in the first half and the Aces led by double figures the rest of the way.
The Aces shot 51% (36 of 71) from the field, hit 14 of 29 (48%) from 3-point range and had 23 assists.
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Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike (3) drives to the basket between Las Vegas Aces forward NaLyssa Smith (3) and center A'ja Wilson (22) during the first half of Game 1 in the first round of the WNBA basketball playoffs Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Las Vegas. Seattle Storm center Dominique Malonga (14) looks on at left. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)
Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon calls out to players during the first half of Game 1 against the Seattle Storm in the first round of the WNBA basketball playoffs Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson (22) congratulates guard Jewell Loyd (24) after Loyd scored a 3-point basket during the first half of Game 1 against the Seattle Storm in the first round of the WNBA basketball playoffs Sunday, Sept. 14, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Steve Marcus)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was at the White House on Thursday discussing her country's future with President Donald Trump even after he publicly dismissed her credibility to take over after an audacious U.S. military raid captured then-President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has raised doubts about his stated commitment to backing democratic rule in Venezuela. His administration has signaled its willingness to work with acting President Delcy Rodríguez, who was Maduro’s vice president and, along with others in the deposed leader’s inner circle, remains in charge of day-to-day governmental operations.
In endorsing Rodríguez so far, Trump has sidelined Machado, who has long been a face of resistance in Venezuela and sought to cultivate relationships with Trump and key administration voices like Secretary of State Marco Rubio among the American right wing in a gamble to ally herself with the U.S. government.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was expecting a positive discussion during the lunchtime meeting and called Machado “a remarkable and brave voice” for the people of Venezuela.
The White House said Machado sought the face-to-face meeting without setting expectations for what would occur. Her party is widely believed to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. Machado previously offered to share with Trump the Nobel Peace Prize she won last year, an honor he has coveted.
Leavitt said Trump is committed to seeing Venezuela hold elections “one day,” but wouldn’t say when that might happen.
Machado plans to have a meeting at the Senate later Thursday. Trump has called her “a nice woman” while indicating they might not touch on major issues in their talks Thursday.
Her Washington swing began after U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says had ties to Venezuela. It is part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil after U.S. forces seized Maduro and his wife at a heavily guarded compound in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas and brought them to New York to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.
The White House says Venezuela has been fully cooperating with the Trump administration since Maduro’s ouster.
Rodríguez, the acting president, herself has adopted a less strident position toward Trump and his “America First” policies toward the Western Hemisphere, saying she plans to continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro — a move thought to have been made at the behest of the Trump administration. Venezuela released several Americans this week.
Trump, a Republican, said Wednesday that he had a “great conversation” with Rodríguez, their first since Maduro was ousted.
“We had a call, a long call. We discussed a lot of things,” Trump said during an Oval Office bill signing. “And I think we’re getting along very well with Venezuela.”
Even before indicating the willingness to work with Venezuela's interim government, Trump was quick to snub Machado. Just hours after Maduro's capture, Trump said of Machado that “it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.”
Machado has steered a careful course to avoid offending Trump, notably after winning last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, which Trump wanted to win himself. She has since thanked Trump. Her offer to share the peace prize with him was rejected by the Nobel Institute.
Machado’s whereabouts have been largely unknown since she went into hiding early last year after being briefly detained in Caracas. She briefly reappeared in Oslo, Norway, in December after her daughter received the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf.
The industrial engineer and daughter of a steel magnate began challenging the ruling party in 2004, when the nongovernmental organization she co-founded, Súmate, promoted a referendum to recall then-President Hugo Chávez. The initiative failed, and Machado and other Súmate executives were charged with conspiracy.
A year later, she drew the anger of Chávez and his allies again for traveling to Washington to meet President George W. Bush. A photo showing her shaking hands with Bush in the Oval Office lives in the collective memory. Chávez considered Bush an adversary.
Almost two decades later, she marshaled millions of Venezuelans to reject Chávez’s successor, Maduro, for another term in the 2024 election. But ruling party-loyal electoral authorities declared him the winner despite ample credible evidence to the contrary. Ensuing anti-government protests ended in a brutal crackdown by state security forces.
Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela, and Janetsky from Mexico City. AP Diplomatic Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - U.S. President George Bush, right, meets with Maria Corina Machado, executive director of Sumate, a non-governmental organization that defends Venezuelan citizens' political rights, in the Oval Office of the White House, Washington, May 31, 2005. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado gestures to supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
