South Carolina Basketball: Aliyah Boston already making WNBA history

Dawn Staley’s South Carolina basketball program is special. In the last six NCAA Tournaments, the Gamecocks won two national titles and made four Final Fours. Staley’s teams have been so good that the WNBA is now absolutely loaded with former South Carolina Gamecocks. All-time greats A’Ja Wilson and Aliyah Boston were both the top selections in the WNBA Draft.

Last season’s squad, despite not winning the national championship, might have been the most impressive. Five Gamecocks were drafted by WNBA organizations (Aliyah Boston, Laeiticia Amihere, Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, and Victaria Saxton), and several of these players are off to good starts in their professional careers.

As the first-overall pick, Aliyah Boston is the overwhelming favorite to win the WNBA’s Rookie of the Year award for the 2023 season. After dominating in college and, somehow, being an even better fit for the WNBA game, Boston was the obvious selection for the Indiana Fever with the first pick, and it has been no surprise that she has started her professional career on a high note.

Through her first three games in the league, Boston has scored 43 points, 20 rebounds, and shot almost 70% from the field while playing good defense, something rarely accomplished by WNBA rookies. Her fast start is making history in the world of women’s professional basketball.

Boston has accomplished something that fellow dominant post players Lisa Leslie, Brittany Griner, and Sylvia Fowles couldn’t do. No other player in the history of the game has started a WNBA career with three straight scoring outputs in double-figures while also making at least 60% of her shots from the field in each game.

Boston was one of the best defensive players in college basketball history, but her defensive excellence sometimes overshadowed how good she was offensively. Her raw offensive numbers were not on par with players like Caitlin Clark or Angel Reese, but Boston was actually a more efficient offensive player than Clark or Reese last season.

With the added space she will have to operate down low in the WNBA, Aliyah Boston is not done making history.