Saniya Rivers' star has never been a secret.

Long before the Connecticut Sun selected her with the No. 8 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft , Rivers was already a Wilmington legend. At Laney and Ashley high schools, she tormented defenses and rewrote record books, earning three Gatorade North Carolina Player of the Year awards before winning the national award in 2021.

Even when her college career took a detour from South Carolina's national championship roster to N.C, State, Rivers never doubted her moment would come.

That moment arrived on April 14, 2025, when her name echoed through the Shed at Hudson Yards in New York for the WNBA Draft. Surrounded by family and friends, Rivers' lifelong dream finally became reality.

Sixteen days later, her world shattered. Her mother, former UNCW ba

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