Boston, Johnson Pick Up SEC Weekly Honors
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina women’s basketball senior forward Aliyah Boston and redshirt-freshman guard Raven Johnson swept the SEC weekly awards after helping lead the Gamecocks to pair of victories last week that extended the team’s winning streak to a program-record tying 29 games overall and the program’s first 23-0 start to a season. Boston’s selection ties her for the SEC records for career total weekly honors (14) and career player of the week honors (9).
Boston stretched her current double-doubles streak to eight with two more to finish the week averaging 20.0 points and 12.5 rebounds over the pair of wins. Her 26 points at #5/4 UConn were a career high against a top-5 opponents, and the game was her 34th double-double against a ranked opponent – 11th against a top-5 team. The senior absolutely dominated the second half with 23 of her 26 points coming in the final 20 minutes along with eight of her 11 rebounds. Her 14-point fourth quarter included 4-of-6 shooting and saw her score six straight points in 75 seconds to build a 10-point lead with 3:42 to play. She added six more points, including a 3-pointer, to make it a 74-62 margin with 2:13 on the clock. Against Kentucky, she nearly completed her double-double in the first half with eight points and eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes, including six rebounds in the second quarter to match the Wildcats’ team total for that period.
Johnson showed off poise and confidence beyond her years at #5/4 UConn, masterfully running the team in her 36 minutes on the court, including the entire second half. Handing out a career-high tying seven assists in the game, she had no turnovers in the hostile environment in Hartford as the Gamecock claimed their first win over the Huskies in Connecticut. Johnson added a career-high 14 points with seven coming in the final 20 minutes, including a pair of free throws in the final 16 seconds to help seal the victory.
No. 1/1 South Carolina is back on the road Thursday, traveling to Auburn for an 8 p.m. ET tipoff on SEC Network+ before returning home to host No. 3 LSU in a sold-out Colonial Life Arena on Sun., Feb. 12, on ESPN.
