The Las Vegas Aces are the WNBA champions for 2022. The team, led by coach, and South Dakota native, Becky Hammon defeated the Connecticut Sun 78-71 in a Game 4 victory.

Hammond joins the ranks of just a handful of rookie coaches in the NBA to win the league title. And she's the first WNBA coach to do it.

She took over the top job in Las Vegas in December 2021. Prior to that post, Hammon was an assistant with the NBA's San Antonio Spurs for eight seasons.

Hammon grew up in the Black Hills and was a basketball standout at Rapid City Stevens. She was named South Dakota Miss Basketball her junior year and was voted the South Dakota Player of the Year during her senior season.

Her path took her to Colorado State in Fort Collins, Colorado where she was a three-time All-American and broke several records.

Her WNBA career began in 1999 when she joined the New Your Liberty as a player, Hammon turned her attention to coaching and became an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014.

In June 2022, Hammon was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame.

South Dakota's Becky Hammon Leads Las Vegas to First WNBA Title

Gallery Credit: Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Cure Kids Cancer Radiothon and Townsquare Media Sioux Falls

Cure Kids Cancer Radiothon 2023 Presented By Jerry's Auto Sales: Sept 28 and 29, 2023

Result-Townsquare Media Sioux Falls is helping raise money to help fight childhood cancer during our annual Radiothon.

Sadly, more than 11,000 children will be diagnosed with various forms of cancer this year. Instead of being able to just be a kid, these children will be learning about the serious experiences of surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and hospital or clinic visits.

The money raised through Dining for Kids and the 2023 Cure Kids Cancer Radiothon stays in the Sioux Falls area.

Gallery Credit: Results-Townsquare Media Sioux Falls

 

More From KXRB