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South Carolina Gamecocks

Dawn Staley, Aliyah Boston take home latest national awards

Keith Farner

By Keith Farner

Published:

Dawn Staley and Aliyah Boston already have a full trophy case, but the South Carolina stars added more awards as they get set for the Final Four on Friday.

Staley won the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year, while Boston is the back-to-back Naismith Women’s College Defensive Player of the Year. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark was named the Player of the Year. Clark and Iowa will take on South Carolina at 9 p.m. on Friday on ESPN.

Staley is an active legend at South Carolina, which won the national championship last season, as she’s led the program to an undefeated record and the No. 1 overall seed in the Women’s NCAA Tournament. She earlier received the SEC Coach of the Year honor for the 6th time in her career, and second straight.

South Carolina won the 2023 SEC regular season and conference tournament title, which was their seventh SEC Tournament championship in the last 9 years.

Boston is another legend at South Carolina, as she was selected as a first-team AP All-American for the 3rd season in a row, and she took home conference Defensive Player of the Year honors for the fourth straight year. She is the Gamecocks’ all-time leading rebounder (1,483) and second all-time in blocks per game (2.4). Boston is the only South Carolina women’s player this century to average a double-double over her entire career.

Keith Farner

A former newspaper veteran, Keith Farner is a news manager for Saturday Down South.

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