SEATTLE -- The Las Vegas Aces and Seattle Storm are both set to welcome back key contributors sidelined by injury ahead of Sunday's Game 3 of their best-of-five semifinals matchup.
The Storm get back starting small forward Gabby Williams, while Dearica Hamby will return for the Aces. The series is tied at 1-1.
After rejoining the team ahead of Game 2 on Wednesday in Las Vegas, Williams was not cleared from concussion protocol for that game and watched from her hotel room. She resumed fully practicing on Friday.
Williams, who started all 36 games during the regular season and was named to the WNBA's all-defensive second team, suffered the concussion as Seattle completed a first-round sweep of the Washington Mystics two weeks ago Sunday.
Having Williams will help "a ton," Storm coach Noelle Quinn said after Saturday's practice.
"Just to know that we have another big, athletic guard to defend multiple positions. The other aspect that Gabby brings is her ability to initiate, to get downhill, to facilitate. Though we've been talking about our defense, I think that's going to help our offense as well."
Quinn said Williams will not have any minutes restriction.
Hamby hasn't played since suffering a bone contusion in her right knee during the final week of the regular season. Originally listed as out for Game 2, Hamby was upgraded to questionable the day of the game and suited up, though she did not see any action.
Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said she plans to use Hamby "sparingly" on Sunday, gauging how she responds to game action.
"We'll see how she feels. A lot of it will just be a lot of communication with her. You can't really simulate the level of physicality in practice. ... So we'll just communicate with her, see how her wind is."
An All-Star for the second consecutive season, Hamby averaged 9.3 PPG and 5.7 RPG while starting Las Vegas' first 32 games of the season. The two-time Sixth Player of the Year Award winner moved back to the bench just prior to being injured.