When people think back on the greatest sports moments, it usually involves someone scoring—Michael Jordan’s game winner against the Jazz in the NBA Finals, Brandi Chastain’s game-winning penalty kick in the World Cup, Steph Curry’s four threes in the final three minutes of the gold medal game. All these moments will go down in sports history because someone scored in the biggest moment on the biggest stage. The things that don’t get remembered as well: the stops, the defensive plays that led to these moments.
Most players grow up thinking of scoring in those big moments, but few dream of getting the game-winning stops. However, the Las Vegas Aces’ Sydney Colson revels at the thought of getting big stops. She’s in her third season with the Aces and has been better known for her locker room presence than for her play on the court. However, this year, Colson has been playing more minutes and has been making a major impact on the defensive side of the ball for the Aces.
“She comes in and she kicks the beehive. … She stirs it up,” said her head coach Becky Hammon. “She’s frustrating. She’s super fast, so she can kind of get away with being undisciplined at times, because she can recover. You think you got her beat, and then all of a sudden, she’s right back in front of you again. I’m going to have to think about a nickname for her, [maybe] the beekeeper [or] the bee kicker.”
Colson is in her second stint in Las Vegas after spending the 2019 season with the Aces as well. In the last two seasons, she’s played a total of 258 minutes during the regular season. With two games remaining this season, she has already played 207 minutes, the most she’s played since that 2019 season. She’s also knocked down a career high from beyond the arc and played in the fourth-most games in a season in her 10-year career.
Colson’s role has grown a lot more post-Olympic break for the Aces. In previous seasons, she used to only come in during garbage time at the end of games. Now, she’s coming in during the first and second quarters and playing in big moments down the stretch.
Her first big chance came on the road at Connecticut a few weeks ago. She entered the game to start the fourth quarter with the Aces down by three. She played for seven minutes, scoring two points and grabbing one rebound, helping the Aces come back from a double-digit deficit to beat the Sun.
However, it wasn’t the one basket or rebound that demonstrated Colson’s impact. She was tasked with guarding Marina Mabrey, who had been hurting the Aces. When Colson came in, Mabrey had been Connecticut’s leading scorer. However, in the seven minutes Colson was on the floor, Mabrey took just one shot and turned the ball over one time. After Colson subbed out, Mabrey took two shots in the final three minutes of the game.
Colson knows her role is to get under the opponent’s skin, and she loves it.
“I liked playing defense since I was younger,” Colson told The Next. “Then I went to a college where we picked up full court a lot of times, we deny one pass away, taking charges, playing help side. It’s just been a part of my game and my mindset for a long time. I’d much rather try to stop somebody from getting hot than score. It’s just a way to energize your team without having to have the ball in your hands. I’ve always just appreciated that side of the ball.”
Two days later against the Liberty, Colson did the same thing. In a rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals, the Aces were without their superstar A’ja Wilson and fell down 20 points late in the third quarter. Colson subbed in and was in the game when the Aces cut the 20-point deficit in half with eight-and-a-half minutes to go in the game. This time, she was charged with guarding Sabrina Ionescu, one of the best guards in the world.
However, this night, Colson showed another thing she is well known for: her ability to always be ready and bounce back. With just over three minutes in the game, Colson stole a pass and had a breakaway layup that would have given the Aces the lead. But she missed, and it turned into a four-point swing against Las Vegas. One minute later, though, Colson hit a 3-pointer to give the Aces the lead. They were unable to hold on for the comeback victory, but the moment showed something Colson always talks about: being ready when your number is called.
“I’m just a team player, like a genuine team player,” Colson said. “I want the group to do well, I want individuals. I want the team to do well. If I’m a part of that, physically on the court, awesome, if I’m not, I’m gonna get what I can vocally and with leadership. I’m just a professional. I know that’s been part of the reason I’ve kept the job in the league for so long. That’s been my focus.”
In her last five games, Colson’s had a plus/minus of +9 in her 38 minutes played including a +19 in 12 minutes in a game at Indiana on Sept. 11. This season, the Aces are +8.4 when Colson is on the court per 100 possessions. That’s the second-highest mark for Colson in her career, and she’s doing it while averaging seven minutes played per game.
In fact, when Colson plays at least 10 minutes a game, the Aces are 7-2 this season. It’s Colson’s defense that is leading Hammon to play her.
“I don’t even know what she’s going to do,” Hammon said. “Sometimes she does the scheme, sometimes she doesn’t, but I think it’s what makes it kind of work because a lot of times we’re doing something, and she gets so one track minded on guarding somebody. She’s gonna go do her own thing at times, and I think it catches people off guard. Then the next time down the floor, she does this scheme perfectly. So it’s kind of like, just let her go, try not to over-coach her, just let her be her,”
Colson has always been a great fit for the Aces’ team chemistry. She has also been great for the other guards on the team, telling them what she sees happening on the court and helping them improve. Kelsey Plum has talked multiple times about the impact Colson’s had on helping her see what opponents are doing on the floor and how to take advantage of that.
This year though, Colson has taken her impact on the Aces to a new level. She has always been an elite defender, but now she is getting to show her skills more frequently and it’s having a huge impact on an Aces defense that has struggled throughout the season. She has been asked to guard the likes of Caitlin Clark, Ionescu, Mabrey and Kelsey Mitchell in the last two weeks alone.
“Just coming in, just being a solid backup point guard,” Colson said of her role with the defending champs. “Facilitating, playing solid defense. Making sure that we’re doing things as a unit to get us energized on both ends of the floor. [This year feels] differently for me, because I’m out there on the court more, but my mindset is still the same as it’s been other years.”
