Aces beat Tempo, but NaLyssa Smith’s injury casts shadow over road win

Las Vegas Aces secured an 88-78 road victory over the Toronto Tempo on Sunday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. The win, however, was overshadowed by a non-contact knee injury suffered by starting forward NaLyssa Smith during the third quarter. Smith went down awkwardly while trying to corral a pass from Jackie Young in transition, immediately clutching her knee. She was evaluated by the Aces’ medical staff before being helped off the court because she could not bear weight on her leg. The severity of the injury remained unknown at the time, leaving the team awaiting further assessment of their WNBA field‑goal percentage leader. Despite the setback, A’ja Wilson paced Las Vegas with 27 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, exploiting a depleted Toronto roster. Jackie Young added 21 points and seven assists, marking her third straight game with at least 20 points and her eighth such performance in the last nine contests. Toronto entered the game without five of its top scorers—Marina Mabrey, Brittney Sykes, Nyara Sabally, Aneesah Morrow and Maria Conde—who together accounted for roughly 80 percent of the Tempo’s average 87.5 points per game. The burden fell on Isabelle Harrison, Kiki Rice, Julie Allemand and the remaining bench players to fill the scoring gap. The victory kept the Aces third in the WNBA standings, a half‑game ahead of the Indiana Fever and one game ahead of the Atlanta Dream with four regular‑season games remaining. This is simply a processing story. Check backmost for updates.