South Carolina women wrap 2020 with a win as Boston shines in SEC opener
Just before South Carolina women’s basketball tipped off against Florida on Thursday afternoon, the Gamecocks watched as a banner honoring their historic 2019-20 season was unfurled.
Then, No. 5 USC took the floor and held off the Gators 75-59, led by the kind of vintage performance from sophomore Aliyah Boston that powered so much of the team’s success last year.
With a career-high 28 points and 16 rebounds, Boston passed 500 career points and 380 rebounds while recording her third double-double of the season and 16th of her career. She also tallied a season-high four blocks to go with three steals and an assist.
“I think my teammates really helped me tonight,” Boston said. “They put me in great positions where I was able to knock down shots or just get layups around the basket, so I’m just thankful that they were able to put me in those positions.”
3 OBSERVATIONS
1. Through the early portion of the season, Boston had seemed just a step or two slower than her usual dominant self as opposing defenses increasingly keyed in on the All-American. But starting with a heady assist pass through a double team on the first possession of the game, Boston was locked in Thursday. In the first half alone, she set a new season high in points and recorded a double-double while outscoring Florida all by herself, 19-18.
“With a player like Aliyah, you have to stay consistent. She’s had great days for us, and we’ve been one to preach, ‘Don’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows.’ And we haven’t been too low with the lows, because she has been a fraction of who’s she has been over this first part of the season of it,” coach Dawn Staley said. “And you just stay at it. For us, she mixed in points in the paint, outside midrange as well as the 3. I thought she did a great job of even giving up some shots she could have taken.”
The highlight of it all came with seven seconds left in the first half. Boston came down with a rebound, then dribbled coast-to-coast before stopping and popping a jumper at the buzzer, flashing a wink caught on the ESPNU cameras after the basket.
“The wink was to Coach Staley, because I heard her when I was at like halfcourt, she was like, ‘Go, Aliyah, go!’ ” Boston said. “And I was like, all right, let’s see how far I can get. And honestly I was going to pull up, and then I was like, ‘Wait, I still got a couple seconds left.’ So I was like, let me just go. And then it went in and I was just really excited.”
2. In the very early going, the Gamecocks’ defense was locked in and Florida’s offense was all sorts of sloppy, turning the ball over frequently and allowing USC to take a 14-6 advantage. But USC’s shooting woes kept the game from getting blown wide open. That is, until the second quarter, when a 15-0 run put the Gamecocks’ lead into double digits permanently.
Unsurprisingly, Boston was responsible for much of that burst, contributing nine points, a rebound and a steal. But sophomore guard Zia Cooke was effective as well, adding four points and an assist as part of her 26-point, five-assist effort on the evening.
And when Boston hit that final jumper to head into halftime, USC’s advantage surpassed 20 points, allowing it to weather a Florida run in the third quarter. By the fourth, the Gamecocks were back in control and cruised home for their final win of the 2020 calendar year.
“I definitely had the flow tonight. It took me a while to get there, but the flow ended up coming,” Cooke said.
3. In one of the oddest statistical quirks of the season, South Carolina went 3 of 16 from the 3-point line, with all three makes going to ... Boston. The 6-foot-5 forward had made four 3-pointers in her entire career before Thursday.
Indeed, Boston and Cooke were responsible for most of USC’s offense Thursday, combining for 72% of the team’s points. Without them, the Gamecocks shot 10 of 39 from the field.
“Zia Cooke, Aliyah Boston, fabulous players. We wanted to make Boston have to hit shots from the outside, and she did that with those three 3s,” Florida coach Cam Newbauer said. “And then she’s tough to box out, but we tried a team effort to box her out and still couldn’t stop her.”
NEXT USC BASKETBALL GAME
Who: No. 5 South Carolina (6-1) vs. Alabama (8-0)
When: 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 4
Where: Coleman Coliseum, Tuscaloosa, Alabama
TV: SEC Network
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 5:49 PM.
