South Carolina Basketball: Aliyah Boston voted in as All-Star starter
By Kevin Miller
In the category of “Least Surprising News You’ve Heard All Day,” one of the top contenders of the weekend has to be the news that Aliyah Boston was elected as a starter in the WNBA All-Star Game.
Boston will be the first rookie to start the WNBA All-Star Game since 2014 when the Atlanta Dream’s Shoni Schimmel started the game at one of the guard spots for the Eastern Conference All-Stars.
On the season, Boston is averaging 15.6 points per game, 8.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and is shooting a ridiculous league-leading 65.1% from the field.
The 1st-overall pick of the 2023 WNBA Draft became the first player to ever begin her career with 3-straight games scoring in double-figures with 60% shooting from the field, something she ended up doing 4 times to start the season and has done in 9 of her first 13 games. She also secured an Eastern Conference Player of the Week award.
Boston’s Indiana Fever squad is just 5-8 on the year, but those 5 wins match their total from the entire 2022 season, hence why the Fever owned the 1st-overall pick in the first place. Improvement has been seen in Indiana, and Aliyah Boston is a big reason why.
Boston is joined as an All-Star Game starter by fellow South Carolina basketball alum A’ja Wilson.
Wilson, who is averaging a tick under 20 points and 10 rebounds per game (19.3 points, 9.4 rebounds) and over 2 blocks per night while ranking in the top-10 in the league in both offensive efficiency and defensive efficiency, is the leading vote-getter so far and will be the team captain for one of the two all-star teams.
Allisha Gray has a solid candidacy to be selected as one of the 12 reserves selected for the game. Gray is averaging 15.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists per game while shooting over 50% from the field.
The July 15th All-Star Game will be played at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas (home of A’ja Wilson’s LV Aces squad) at 8:30 EST and will be broadcast on ABC and the ESPN App. Wilson and fellow captain Breanna Stewart will draft teams for the exhibition matchup.