{"id":24435,"date":"2026-04-29T11:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/24435\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T11:24:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:24:13","slug":"connecticut-sun-prep-for-preseason-opener-vs-toronto-tempo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/24435\/","title":{"rendered":"Connecticut Sun prep for preseason opener vs. Toronto Tempo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connecticut Sun<\/a> forward Aaliyah Edwards<\/a> has spent the last month fielding constant texts and calls from friends and family trying to get tickets to the team\u2019s preseason game against the Toronto Tempo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Kingston, Ontario, native doesn\u2019t have nearly enough complimentary tickets to get everyone in the door, but she\u2019s expecting the Tempo\u2019s home arena will still be packed with familiar faces when Connecticut comes to town at 7 p.m. on Wednesday. The game marks the first preseason matchup of the season for the Sun and the first ever for the Tempo, who are joining the league as an expansion franchise in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really excited to play at home and be around family and friends,\u201d Edwards said with a grin. \u201cI\u2019ve got so many people coming out, it\u2019s probably like the whole arena at this point. \u2026 Even the people I didn\u2019t get tickets for, they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh we\u2019re coming.\u2019 So many people are hitting me up already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards was thrilled when the Tempo were announced as the WNBA\u2019s first international expansion team last May, especially because it will give young girls in Canada consistent opportunities to see high-level women\u2019s basketball. The league tested the market<\/a> during the 2025 preseason, and Canadian fans sold out more than 19,000 seats for the exhibition game between the Chicago Sky and Minnesota Lynx at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. The Seattle Storm and Atlanta Dream also sold out a regular-season showcase in Vancouver<\/a> last August.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just really happy for the country and for women\u2019s basketball in Canada, because we deserve it,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cIt\u2019s only going to make future Canadian ballers even better and more inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Edwards is used to representing the home team when she\u2019s playing in Canada as a member of the senior national team<\/a>, so she\u2019s not sure what to expect going in as the opponent. UConn scheduled an exhibition against Toronto Metropolitan University<\/a> in December 2023 to give Edwards a homecoming during her final college season, and though the Huskies were technically on the road for that matchup, competing against Toronto\u2019s WNBA team will be a unique experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mindset is just gonna be playing for the Connecticut Sun and having my teammates\u2019 back, but the team has already poured into me. They\u2019re super happy for me,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cEvery time I play at home it\u2019s with my national team, so it\u2019s gonna be a little weird, but I\u2019m excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connecticut Sun fanbase shows up stronger than ever despite \u2018heartbreaking\u2019 Houston relocation<\/a><\/p>\n

Training camp standouts<\/p>\n

Former UCLA point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker<\/a>, the Sun\u2019s 2026 second-round draft pick, will be one to watch against the Tempo after her impressive start to training camp. Nearly every player and coach has identified the rookie as one of the biggest surprises so far with how quickly she\u2019s adjusted to her role as the team\u2019s floor general despite her inexperience.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already hard coming in as a rookie on a new team, new environment, new league, but when you have to come in and play point guard, you have to get (veterans) in spots,\u201d second-year guard Saniya Rivers<\/a> said. \u201cYou\u2019ve gotta have a lot of confidence. You\u2019ve gotta have a lot of courage. You\u2019ve gotta have some balls to do that, and she came in with all of that and just shocked me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coach Rachid Meziane was also surprised by how smoothly first-round pick Gianna Kneepkens<\/a> transitioned to the professional level. He said he had questions coming in about how the former UCLA guard would handle the pace and physicality of the WNBA, but he\u2019s been impressed by her high IQ on the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s not a super-fast player, but because she\u2019s smart \u2026 she can take some advantage of the team system and also bring what she can bring,\u201d Meziane said. \u201cShe\u2019s a good passer and she facilitates our offense a lot of times. Defensively, her footwork and positioning, she compensates for a lot of her lack of physicality with her intelligence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the new draftees, former Harvard star Harmoni Turner<\/a> is making a strong impression with her energy and competitive fire. Turner was selected in the third round of the 2025 WNBA Draft by the Las Vegas Aces but got waived during camp, and she spent the offseason developing her game overseas playing for Landerneau in France\u2019s Ligue Feminine.<\/p>\n

Turner may not make the final 12-player roster, but she seems like a perfect candidate for one of Connecticut\u2019s developmental spots. Under the new collective bargaining agreement, teams can sign up to two development players \u2014 players with less than three years of experience who can appear in up to 12 games and do not count against a team\u2019s salary cap.<\/p>\n

\u2018Best thing ever\u2019: Former UCLA teammates reunite at Connecticut Sun training camp<\/a><\/p>\n

Learning experience<\/p>\n

The Sun\u2019s first preseason game comes a week and a half into training camp and provides a crucial opportunity for the coaching staff to evaluate its overwhelmingly young roster in live action against other pros rather than practice players. Only three of the team\u2019s 15 active players have more than four years of experience in the WNBA, and six are rookies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just gonna be how quickly we can adapt to the pace of the game, how physical it is. Everyone always talks about that, but I\u2019m excited to see how that plays out in a game,\u201d Leger-Walker said. \u201cI\u2019m obviously still learning, still learning how to play with a lot of these players but just learning to play at this level, so I\u2019m just going in hoping I can be confident and take what\u2019s there for me but also understand that I\u2019m going to make mistakes and just learning from that as quick as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Connecticut is still in the process of implementing its offensive system, and everyone in the building expects there will be some ugly moments as they work through the growing pains for the first time. But the team is building its identity around defense, so Wednesday will be a test of players\u2019 effort and intensity more than anything else.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to see how we\u2019re going to respond,\u201d All-Star center Brittney Griner<\/a> said. \u201cIf we get up, are we gonna keep that lead, or are we gonna let them come back? If they get up on us, how are we gonna respond to it? You get to see everybody\u2019s real character out there. When you get hit in the face with adversity, that\u2019s when you really see the real player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saniya Rivers, Aneesah Morrow bring confidence, chemistry into second year with Connecticut Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connecticut Sun forward Aaliyah Edwards has spent the last month fielding constant texts and calls from friends and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24436,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[12077,12082,12079,12084,3959,12083,12080,12081,12085,219,12086,49,48,2318,2665,12078,2317],"class_list":{"0":"post-24435","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-aaliyah-edwards","9":"tag-brittney-griner","10":"tag-charlisse-leger-walker","11":"tag-connecticut","12":"tag-connecticut-sun","13":"tag-ct-news","14":"tag-gianna-kneepkens","15":"tag-harmoni-turner","16":"tag-hartford-courant","17":"tag-local-news","18":"tag-max-image-preview","19":"tag-sports","20":"tag-toronto","21":"tag-toronto-tempo","22":"tag-ucla-womens-basketball","23":"tag-uconn-womens-basketball","24":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24435","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}