(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

The Las Vegas Aces' rocket ride up the WNBA standings reaches its 2025 regular-season culmination with a visit to the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday.On a franchise-best 15-game winning streak, tied for third-longest in league history, the Aces (29-14) are one win away from clinching the No. 2 seed for the upcoming playoffs.Las Vegas owns the tiebreaker against the Atlanta Dream and will wrap up the second spot in the overall standings if it defeats the Sparks in their regular-season finale.A Las Vegas victory Thursday will also tie the Phoenix Mercury's 16-game winning streak in 2014 as the second-longest in WNBA history, behind an 18-game run by the Sparks in 2001.The Aces extended their streak Tuesday with a balanced 92-61 home victory over the Chicago Sky. Six Las Vegas players scored in double figures, led by 15 from both Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young. Loyd became the 16th player to reach 6,000 career points.A'ja Wilson was held to 11 points on 3-of-7 shooting, her lowest scoring output of the winning streak, during which she has averaged 26.3 points per game.'I'm not worried about it,' Aces head coach Becky Hammond said of Wilson's night, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 'It's just kind of a little bit of a one off. (The Sky defense) just sat in the paint the whole time.'The Sparks (21-22) put together a late-season run, but were eliminated from playoff consideration despite an 88-83 victory over the Mercury on Tuesday. Their hopes were dashed when the eighth-place Seattle Storm earned a 74-73 victory over the Golden State Valkyries.Los Angeles has gone 16-9 since July 5, but the team's charge was slowed by losing four of its past eight games.In her first season with the Sparks, Kelsey Plum has averaged a team-best 19.6 points with 5.7 assists. Dearica Hamby has added 18.5 points with 8.0 rebounds.'I came here two years ago, and the plan was a long-term build,' Hamby said. 'I think we took steps in the right direction. It's a little frustrating because we were two (victories) away (from the playoffs) and I can count on two hands how many games we gave up. It's still positive, though.'--Field Level Media