South Carolina Basketball: Aliyah Boston given Player of the Month honor
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina basketball legend Aja Wilson was honored this week as the WNBA Western Conference Player of the Month for the third straight month. As it turned out, she was not the only former Gamecock basketball alum to receive a major honor on Wednesday. Aliyah Boston was named the WNBA Rookie of the Month for the third time in the 2023 season.
Boston became just the 8th rookie ever in WNBA history to win the league’s Rookie of the Month award on three separate occasions (Boston won the honor in May, June, and August). For the month of August, Aliyah Boston nearly averaged a double-double with 14.6 points per game and 9.4 rebounds per game. She also added 2 steals per contest and almost 2 blocks per night, as well.
As she has done multiple times already in her young professional career, Aliyah Boston also set a WNBA record during the month of August. Boston put together five straight performances with at least 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 50% shooting efficiency, the most ever for a WNBA rookie player. The previous record was just 3 games, one that she had matched in an earlier stretch this season.
No Indiana Fever rookie has ever scored as much or blocked as many shots as Aliyah Boston, and she is the 19th WNBA rookie ever to reach the 500-point mark in her first season as a professional. With two games remaining on the Fever’s schedule, Boston has an outside chance of reaching 600 points, something that has only happened seven times in league history.
Aliyah Boston’s impact on the floor is more than just about stats, however. The All-Star is also a very good post defender who causes opposing coaches to gameplan for ways to move her away from the basket where she thwarts most drive attempts.
Boston has also given hope to a franchise that had lost it all. Her Fever team has more than doubled its win total from 2022. Indiana also is in line to receive a high draft pick, meaning that another big-time player will become Boston’s running mate with the Fever after next season’s WNBA Draft.