{"id":20893,"date":"2022-09-26T09:27:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-26T13:27:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=20893"},"modified":"2022-09-26T09:27:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-26T13:27:42","slug":"las-vegas-aces-aja-wilson-gives-glory-to-god-after-aces-win-first-wnba-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2022\/09\/las-vegas-aces-aja-wilson-gives-glory-to-god-after-aces-win-first-wnba-championship.html","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Aces&#8217; A&#8217;ja Wilson Gives Glory to God After Aces Win First WNBA Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Las Vegas Aces took home their first WNBA title after beating the Connecticut Sun 78-71 in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals last Sunday at Connecticut\u2019s Mohegan Sun Arena.<\/p>\n<p>According to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsspectrum.com\/sport\/basketball\/2022\/09\/19\/aja-wilson-las-vegas-aces-wnba-title-all-to-god\/\">Sports Spectrum<\/a>, WNBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year A\u2019ja Wilson contributed 20 points per game in the finals, playing every second of the series on Sunday and leading her team to victory. It is the first time the city of Las Vegas is celebrating a professional sports championship.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGod is so good! I\u2019m a champion,\u201d Wilson\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_ajawilson22\/status\/1571655951907803144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571655951907803144%7Ctwgr%5E4b1eb4128b906b014e85daa0958e20da2ca2ec17%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsportsspectrum.com%2Fsport%2Fbasketball%2F2022%2F09%2F19%2Faja-wilson-las-vegas-aces-wnba-title-all-to-god%2F\">tweeted\u00a0<\/a>Sunday night. The twenty-six-year-old basketball player has previously won national player of the year honors, an NCAA championship in college, four WNBA All-Star selections, and two league MVPs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWinning a championship is something that no one can ever take from you,\u201d Wilson said during the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wnba.com\/video\/aces-and-sun-postgame-press-conference-game-4\/\">postgame press conference<\/a>. \u201cOnce you\u2019ve got that down, you are in the books forever. When you\u2019re talking about a legacy, you have to win. You have to win, and I don\u2019t win without my teammates, so this moment right here, this year right here, is something that I\u2019m never going to forget.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bFFmSNIKoLk\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>She also thanked God for allowing her to make it to this point in her career. \u201cFor this to be a part of my legacy and a part of my journey, I am blessed,\u201d she continued. \u201cI\u2019ve got to give it all to God. Without Him, I wouldn\u2019t be anywhere. He plays through me, and I always say, \u2018Let that light from within shine brighter than the light that\u2019s on you.\u2019 It\u2019s something special. I love where I am right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wilson, who was picked first overall by the Aces in 2018, has played a vital role in turning the team into a consistent franchise in the WNBA, even helping her team make it to the semifinals for three straight seasons.<\/p>\n<p>Wilson was raised in a family of believers. Her grandfather was a minister, and she attended church regularly in her childhood. In college, she continued to grow in her faith under University of South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2019 Sports Spectrum Magazine\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sportsspectrum.com\/sports-spectrum\/2019\/12\/26\/magazine-las-vegas-kelsey-plum-aja-wilson-aces-faith\/\">feature story<\/a>\u00a0on Wilson and her teammate Kelsey Plum, Wilson highlighted the importance of prayer in her life. \u201cPrayer has just really helped me out through my whole basketball career,\u201d she said at the time. \u201cIt\u2019s a part of my pregame ritual; it\u2019s a part of my warm-up. It\u2019s always involved because I know that it\u2019s so much more than what\u2019s at stake and what\u2019s in front of me. I just have to give thanks; that\u2019s the biggest thing. Prayer is my peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Nearly a year ago, the\u00a0Las Vegas Aces\u00a0suffered a season-ending loss that burned within them throughout the winter months into this season. But that feeling was eclipsed Sunday, as the Aces beat the\u00a0Connecticut Sun and won the WNBA Finals 3-1, giving the city of Las Vegas its first major professional sports championship. With a player like A\u2019ja Wilson at the helm, the Aces have more titles in their future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Las Vegas Aces took home their first WNBA title after beating the Connecticut Sun 78-71 in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals last Sunday at Connecticut\u2019s Mohegan Sun Arena. According to\u00a0Sports Spectrum, WNBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year A\u2019ja Wilson contributed 20 points per game in the finals, playing every second of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":20902,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3630,7,10],"tags":[5278,5284,5281],"class_list":["post-20893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes","category-entertainment","category-sports","tag-aja-wilson","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-wnba-finals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Las Vegas Aces&#039; A&#039;ja Wilson Gives Glory to God After Aces Win First WNBA Championship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After beating the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Finals, Aces&#039; 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