Aces beat Fever in OT to advance to WNBA Finals

The Indiana Fever, with about half their roster in street clothes, weren't supposed to be this kind of challenge for the Las Vegas Aces.

And then when Kelsey Mitchell left Game 5 on Tuesday night because of severe leg cramping, victory seemed assured for Las Vegas — only to have Indiana keep fighting back.

But the Aces, pushed to the brink for the second postseason series in a row, survived 107-98 in overtime to advance to the WNBA Finals for the third time in four years. A'ja Wilson, with 35 points, and Jackie Young, with 32, became the first teammates to score more than 30 points in a playoff game.

The second-seeded Aces, who won the league title in 2022 and 2023, will host the fourth-seeded Phoenix Mercury on Friday in the opener of the best-of-seven championship series.

Las Vegas went on a 16-game winning streak to end the regular season, but was pushed to the edge by Seattle in the first round and then Indiana.

"I think that streak we went on prepared us for moments like this, how to fight through the highs and lows of the game," Wilson said. "It allows us to never take our foot off the gas."

Indiana made Las Vegas work for it even though the sixth-seeded Fever have been decimated by injuries, with Mitchell added to that list that includes Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham. Coach Stephanie White somehow not only kept the team together, the Fever reached the doorstep of their first Finals appearance since 2015.

"They have been an absolute joy to coach," White said. "It's an incredible group of women, an incredibly connected group. They're a great example to everybody to what it means to just put one foot in front of the other to persevere, to welcome people into the fold, to not give in to circumstance."

Mitchell