Kingston honours Aaliyah Edwards’ WMBA debut tomorrow

Story by Christena Lawrie, CFRC's Broadcast Journalist & Local Journalism Initiative Reporter.

After receiving unanimous approval from council last week, tomorrow will be declared Kingston’s first Aaliyah Edwards Day, celebrating the Kingston-born Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star making her debut.

Aaliyah Edwards was selected sixth overall in the 2024 WNBA draft last month, making her the first Kingstonian drafted into the league. This comes after finishing her last year at the University of Connecticut, where she started in all 37 games she appeared in with the UConn Huskies. In her final season, she hit a career-high of 17.6 points per game and finished ranking 15th in program history. On Tuesday evening, she will make her regular season debut with the Washington Mystics.

In celebration of her achievements, Mayor Bryan Paterson brought forth the motion to proclaim tomorrow Aaliyah Edwards Day in Kingston.

“There's a buzz in the community right now, because we are very proud of the accomplishments of one of our own," Mayor Paterson stated before council. "It's always amazing to be able to celebrate when a Kingstonian does something extraordinary on a national or international stage, and I think that this definitely fits that category.” 

The Mystics will be facing off against New York Liberty tomorrow night at 7 P.M. in Washington. Along with kicking off her WNBA career, Edwards will also be representing Canada in the 2024 Olympics this coming summer.