Aces’ A’ja Wilson sets WNBA record for rebounds in a single season

SEATTLE — With seven rebounds in Tuesday’s 85-72 win over the Seattle Storm, the Las Vegas Aces’ A’ja Wilson surpassed injured Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese to set the WNBA record for most rebounds in a season.

Last week, Wilson broke the WNBA single-season record for leading scorers, and on Sunday she became the first player in league history to reach 1,000 points in a single season.

“It’s a blessing,” Wilson said. “This competition is tough, so if my name somehow gets in the record books, that’s a blessing. So that’s cool.”

Compared to the attention paid to her scoring, Wilson was surprised to learn during postgame interviews that she had the most rebounds, leading to a hilarious exchange with Aces coach Becky Hammon.

“No, she didn’t know,” Hammon joked. “You’ll see.”

“That’s because I don’t chase rebounds, so it’s not something I think about all the time,” Wilson replied.

“She doesn’t chase rebounds,” Hammon countered. “She just always has 13.”

“I’m 6’3″ and I’m standing around the basket, I hope I can get a few rebounds for my team,” Wilson concluded. “But when it comes down to just making them score, I’m not focused on that. I’m focused on putting the ball in the hoop.”

Reese’s rebounding record, set on Sept. 1, lasted less than three weeks. She played just two more games before suffering a wrist fracture that ended her rookie WNBA season. Reese averaged 13.1 rebounds, compared to a career-high 11.9 for Wilson, who had never previously reached a double-figure rebounding record.

Hammon gave an example of how Wilson excels on the rebound, even though he doesn’t focus on rebounds.

“Earlier this year,” Hammon recalled, “it was halfway through the third and I looked at her and said, ‘Ah yeah, you got two rebounds.’ She said, ‘Okay.’ In the next minute and a half, I think she got seven. You remind her — oh hey, the other half of your job is to get the damn rebounds — and she’ll be like, ‘Okay, I got you.'”

Las Vegas’ win moved Seattle into fifth place in the playoffs, which begin Sunday. The Aces now have home-field advantage in the first round as they attempt to defend their second straight championship.

Las Vegas, currently seeded fourth, could move up to third on Thursday, the final day of the regular season, if the Aces beat the Dallas Wings and the Connecticut Sun lose to the Sky.

Don’t expect Wilson to keep an eye on the scoreboard.

“I don’t care what seed we are,” she said. “It would be nice to just be a higher seed, play at home, cool, but that doesn’t matter. It’s a whole new kind of basketball that you get a chance to play when it comes to the playoffs and it doesn’t matter what number your team has on it. You just have to go out there and play the best basketball you can and I think that’s what we’re trying to do.”

After losing four of their first six games after the Olympic break, Las Vegas has gone 8-1 in their last nine. The only loss in that span came at the New York Liberty, a game Wilson missed with an ankle injury.