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The Indiana Fever selected South Carolina star Aliyah Boston with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft on Monday evening.
As a three-time unanimous first-team All-American, Boston also won a national championship with the Gamecocks in historic fashion.
Aliyah Boston is the most decorated player in program history
Boston was part of the incredible 2019 recruiting class that went 129-9 in their four-year careers, according to Yahoo! Sports.
They reached the Final Four all three years available (the 2020 tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but they were ranked No. 1 at the time) and won the 2022 national title. Boston was named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four averaging 17 points, 17 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 blocks a game.
She was named the program’s first National Freshman of the Year in 2020 and earned National Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2022 and ’23. She swept the Lisa Leslie Award for the nation’s best center and Associated Press All-America honors all four years. Boston is the fifth player in AP All-America history to do so.
In SEC play, she became the first to win the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year award four times and holds the conference record with 15 career weekly honors as well as 10 career player of the week recognitions.
Boston also leaves South Carolina with numerous records, led by most rebounds (462), double-doubles (30) and consecutive double-doubles (27) in a season. She also holds five single-game records.
Over her career, she started all 138 contests and averaged 14.1 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game facing double- and triple-teams and various junk defenses.
Aliyah to bring the Fever to Indiana
The South Carolina center is the team’s first No. 1 selection in league history after the Fever won the lottery for the first time in November.
Boston joins a promising squad that includes NaLyssa Smith, Queen Egbo, Lexie Hull, Emily Engstler and former South Carolina teammate Destanni Henderson. Kelsey Mitchell is coming off a career year in 2022 as well.
Fever general manager Lin Dunn told reporters on a conference call Thursday that she had watched the 6-foot-5 Boston carefully this season and applauded her size, basketball IQ, character and leadership skills.
“She just brings an enormous amount to the table, and I really think she’s going to have — whether she’s picked first, second or third, she’s going to have an immediate impact on this league,” Dunn said.