Eighth-seeded Aaliyah Edwards advances to semis of Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament

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Eighth-seeded Aaliyah Edwards advanced to the semifinals of the Unrivaled 1-on-1 tournament beating Allisha Gray in the quarterfinals Tuesday night.

Edwards, who had the surprising win of the opening round by shutting out top-seed Breanna Stewart had a bye in the second round. Having the extra rest certainly helped against Gray, who beat Kahleah Copper in the second round.

"Shouldn’t be surprised. Played my first year in the league, now I’m tapping into myself and the confidence is showing and the work is showing,” Edwards said.

She was joined in the semifinals Friday night by two other former UConn players — Napheesa Collier and Azura Stevens. The two former college teammates will face off in one of the matchups. Edwards will play Arike Ogunbowale in the other contest.

By reaching the semifinals each of the four players were guaranteed $25,000. The winner of the tournament will receive $200,000 and the runner-up gets $50,000. The winner's Unrivaled teammates each get $10,000.

The finals will be a best-of-three series with the winning score for each game also to 11. Each game has traditional scoring with baskets worth either two or three points. Rounds up until the finals were single elimination.

Three of the four quarterfinals matchups featured WNBA teammates. Collier advanced to the semis by beating her Unrivaled and Minnesota Lynx partner Courtney Williams 12-4. Stevens beat her Los Angeles Sparks teammate Rae Burrell 12-2 in the quarterfinals. Ogunbowale topped her former Dallas Wings partner Satou Sabally. Sabally was traded to Phoenix earlier this month.

Ogunbowale went up 8-0 and then held on for a 12-8 victory.

Both the second round and quarterfinals were played Tuesday night.

The best game of the second round was Rhyne Howard against Williams. Howard was down 8-0 before scoring nine straight points to take a 9-8 lead. Williams got a stop and then got fouled shooting a 3-pointer. She made the free throw that was worth three points to win the game and set up the matchup with Collier in the quarterfinals.

Other players who reached the second round included Jewell Loyd, Shakira Austin, Rickea Jackson, Skylar Diggins-Smith and DiJonai Carrington.

The 1-on-1 tournament, which tipped off Monday night, featured 23 of the 36 players in the league. Some had to drop out because of injuries before playing their first-round game.

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball