Boston, Staley Pick Up Naismith Awards

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley and senior Aliyah Boston picked up a pair of awards from the Atlanta Tipoff Club Wednesday afternoon with Staley repeating as Werner Ladder Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year and Boston going back-to-back as Naismith Women’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Staley has led this Gamecock team to a 36-0 record and both the SEC Regular-Season and Tournament championships. South Carolina’s 36 wins are a single-season program record, as its current 42-game win streak that dates back to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The team has been ranked No. 1 in both national polls every week of the season, just the third program to do that. The program’s current 38-week run at No. in the AP Poll is the second-longest streak in the history of that poll. The Gamecocks’ nine wins over ranked opponents are the second-most in the country this season and their 13 road wins are tied for the most in the nation. Seven different Gamecocks have led the team in scoring at least once, including five who came off the bench to do it. South Carolina is back in the NCAA Final Four for the fifth time in the last eight NCAA Tournaments, including each of the last three.

The two-time Naismith Defensive Player of the Year and four-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Boston continues to dominate on that end of the court. According to Her Hoop Stats, she is sixth in the country in player defensive rating. Her 2.0 blocks per game are third in the SEC overall and 26th in the nation, and she led the SEC with 2.25 blocks per conference game. Boston is the SEC’s active blocked shots leader with 329 in her career, which is tied for sixth in league history.

Continue to check GamecocksOnline.com and the team’s social media accounts (@GamecockWBB) for the most up-to-date information on the women’s basketball season.