Aaliyah Edwards ready to ‘dominate’ in 3rd WNBA season ahead of Toronto game - BERITAJA

With outpouring successful afloat swing, galore are hopeful for the sun to support shining. But for hoops fans successful Kingston, Ont., the Sun they’re looking for is successful Connecticut.

Limestone City autochthonal Aaliyah Edwards is getting group for her 3rd play of master basketball, her first afloat play pinch the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA.

The erstwhile Frontenac Secondary School standout was moved to the Sun earlier the waste and acquisition deadline, aft being seldom utilized by the squad that drafted her sixth wide successful 2024.

“It’s reliable worldly that I had to spell done that,” Edwards said from her edifice room successful Toronto, wherever she is getting group to return connected the Toronto Tempo successful pre-season action.

“But astatine the aforesaid time, I’m grateful that I went done it truthful early connected successful my career.”

She adds that convention veterans person encouraged her to support her caput up, arsenic trades and squad activity are acold excessively communal successful master sports.

But Edwards says she’s not dwelling connected her turbulent sophomore play and is alternatively utilizing it arsenic information to support progressing arsenic a master hoops player.

“I want my sanction to beryllium thrown about the league, and I want to beryllium group wrong,” she said.

“Going to my 3rd year, obviously, I’m going to beryllium squad first. But individually, I’ve been moving really difficult to benignant of get backmost to what I do best, which is conscionable to dominate.”

During her rookie play pinch the Mystics successful 2024, Edwards averaged 7.6 points and 5.6 rebounds successful 21.8 minutes per game. But her accumulation dipped successful 2025, averaging 5.4 points and 3.7 rebounds per game. However, that came successful an mean of 7 less minutes per outing.

Heading into this season, Edwards says she’s been told by Sun guidance and coaches that she’ll beryllium an integral portion of the squad successful 2026.

“I’m really excited and conscionable embracing that domiciled and embracing conscionable having that work and accountability,” she said.

Part of the logic she’s caught the eyes of the Sun brass is her outstanding showing during Unrivalled, the off-season 3-on-3 league, wherever Edwards averaged a double-double.

“I was capable to really show that and conscionable execute and it really conscionable gave maine that, that joyousness of the athletics again, aft having specified a reliable play pinch a batch of adversity thrown my way.”

And though Edwards will beryllium much heavy relied upon successful 2026, she is hoping to usage the play to beryllium a mentee to convention veteran, Britney Griner, who signed pinch Connecticut successful the off-season. Griner is simply a 3-time Olympic Gold Medalist, arsenic good arsenic a erstwhile NCAA and WNBA champion.

The summation to the Sun caught her off-guard, but she’s excited astatine the opportunity to study from 1 of the champion to ever play successful the WNBA.

“To benignant of for illustration prime her encephalon and to utilize her to thief maine beryllium a amended subordinate is going to beryllium awesome for maine this summer,” Edwards said, earlier joking that it will beryllium bully not to play against her.

“She to this time is 1 of the toughest group I’ve had to guard, conscionable pinch her size and her mobility astatine six-eight, for illustration that’s really unheard of successful this league. So to person her connected our broadside of the squad wearing our jersey, we emotion to spot it.”

Earlier this off-season, the WNBA announced the waste of the Sun to a group from Houston, who will relocate the long-standing nine to the Lone Star State. It’s bittersweet for Edwards, arsenic past season’s waste and acquisition was a homecoming of sorts aft spending her 4 years successful the NCAA pinch the University of Connecticut Huskies.

While she admits it will beryllium reliable to time off her 2nd location again, she’s excited for the opportunity to beryllium portion of the league’s return to the metropolis that won the first 4 WNBA titles back-to-back from 1997 to 2000.

“It’s going to beryllium awesome for america to relocate there. A batch of aged fans are going to travel retired and support us, but we’re besides going to get a batch of caller fans,” Edwards said.

“That’s a awesome operation for maine because, you know, you’re not only paving the measurement for the adjacent generation, but you’re besides respecting those that came earlier us.”

But earlier she gets a caller postal code, Edwards has to attraction connected this play and the Sun’s first accumulation crippled — a crippled that happens to beryllium her first master crippled connected location ungraded erstwhile Connecticut pays a sojourn to Coca-Cola Coliseum successful Toronto against the description Tempo.

“Isn’t that crazy?” she remarked.

Edwards admits her telephone has been engaged ever since the league’s schedule was announced, pinch galore friends and family reaching retired successful hopes of securing tickets to the game. She’s exhausted the number of tickets allotted to her by the league, and says that adjacent relatives and erstwhile coaches will beryllium successful attendance for the accumulation matchup.

But the truth that tickets for the crippled are truthful difficult to travel by shows really acold the convention has come.

“You know, they’re not only playing games successful Toronto, they’re playing successful Vancouver. And Montreal, truthful they’re going crossed the country. So yeah, I’m conscionable ace proud that it’s yet come.

“Little girls could look up and spot a pro squad playing connected their location soil. It’s moreover much of a motivator for them to proceed to do that and play the athletics that they love.”

Edwards and the Sun will return to Toronto connected June 10th, for Connecticut’s only different sojourn to Canada this season.