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South Carolina Basketball: Three Gamecocks finished WNBA season as statistical league leaders

By Kevin Miller

South Carolina basketball stars A'ja Wilson and Allisha Gray will both play in the 2023 WNBA All Star Game. Fellow Gamecock Aliyah Boston will also play. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports
South Carolina basketball stars A'ja Wilson and Allisha Gray will both play in the 2023 WNBA All Star Game. Fellow Gamecock Aliyah Boston will also play. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dawn Staley’s South Carolina basketball program has put a number of the WNBA’s best players into the league in recent years.

Aja Wilson is the reigning MVP and Defensive Player of the Year and could be headed for her third win of the league’s highest individual honor and second win of the highest defensive award in the league.

Aliyah Boston is all but guaranteed to win the league’s Rookie of the Year award after putting up one of the top rookie seasons of all-time in 2023.

Allisha Gray, deservedly, was voted into her first All-Star Game this season.

And, yet, now that the WNBA regular season has ended and the playoffs get ready to start, another former South Carolina basketball star finds herself sitting atop all the league’s players in a major statistical category along with more obvious candidates like Wilson and Boston.

Former Gamecock guard Ty Harris finished the 2023 campaign as the most efficient 3-point shooter in the entire league. Shooting a robust 46.4%, Harris shot 1.5% higher than the second-place Jackie Young, an All-Star teammate of Aja Wilson with the Las Vegas Aces. Harris played with Gray for one season (’16-’17), Wilson for two seasons (’16-’18), and Boston for one (’19-’20).

Wilson finished the season leading the WNBA in blocked shots (89) and blocked shots per game (2.2).

The Gamecock rookie Boston finished the year with a 57.8% shooting percentage. She led the league in the category despite a “slump” at the end of the regular season that dropped her shooting efficiency from above 60% to the 57.8% number where it finished the season.

Harris, Wilson, and Boston are three of the best South Carolina basketball players of all-time. Wilson and Boston each won a National Player of the Year honor, Wilson won three SEC Player of the Year Awards, and Boston won two.

Harris should have brought home the award once but was snubbed. Somewhat amending the disrespect, she was named the SEC’s Female Athlete of the Year for the 2019-2020 season.

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