No. 1 South Carolina rakes in SEC Awards, Aliyah Boston repeats as Player of the Year
The SEC announced its award winners for the 2022-23 women’s basketball season on Tuesday, and six members of South Carolina’s team took home league honors.
Aliyah Boston repeated as SEC Player of the Year and was also named the league’s Defensive Player of the Year. Boston averaged 13.3 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in 29 games for USC, along with two blocks per game.
She is the third Gamecock to win the award, with the other two — Tiffany Mitchell and A’ja Wilson — also serving as multi-time winners. Wilson has the most in both South Carolina and SEC history with three.
Dawn Staley was named SEC for the Coach of the Year for the sixth time in her career and second year in a row.
Boston and Zia Cooke were selected to the All-SEC First Team, the fourth and second time for those two players, respectively. Cooke led the Gamecocks with 15.5 points per game and 54 3-pointers.
Brea Beal made the All-Defensive Team for the first time in her career. She was recently named as one of the 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year trophy.
Kamilla Cardoso took home Sixth Woman of the Year honors, averaging 9.7 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game off the bench. And for the first time in her career, she made an All-SEC team, getting second team honors.
Redshirt freshman guard Raven Johnson was named to the All-Freshman team, as she led USC with 3.2 assists per game and 1.1 steals per game.
South Carolina finished the regular season with a 29-0 record and will play its first SEC tournament game on Friday at noon, against either Arkansas or Missouri.
LIST OF 2022-23 SEC AWARDS
All-SEC First Team
Brittany Davis, G, Alabama
Alexis Morris, G, LSU
Angel Reese, G, LSU
Angel Baker, G, Ole Miss
Aliyah Boston, F, South Carolina
Zia Cooke, G, South Carolina
Jordan Horston, G, Tennessee
Rickea Jackson, F, Tennessee
All-SEC Second Team
Erynn Barnum, F, Arkansas
Aicha Coulibaly, F, Auburn
Diamond Battles, G, Georgia
Madison Scott, F, Ole Miss
Jessika Carter, F, Mississippi State
Hayley Frank, F, Missouri
Kamilla Cardoso, C, South Carolina
Ciaja Harbison, G, Vanderbilt
All-Freshman Team
Saylor Poffenbarger, Arkansas
Flau’jae Johnson, LSU
Sa’Myah Smith, LSU
Debreasha Powe, Mississippi State
Ashton Judd, Missouri
Raven Johnson, South Carolina
Janiah Barker, Texas A&M
Sydney Bowles, Texas A&M
All-Defensive Team
Diamond Battles, Georgia
Angel Reese, LSU
Madison Scott, Ole Miss
Jessika Carter, Mississippi State
Brea Beal, South Carolina
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Coach of the Year: Dawn Staley, South Carolina
Player of the Year: Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Defensive Player of the Year: Aliyah Boston, South Carolina
Sixth Woman of the Year: Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina
Scholarship Athlete of the Year: Hannah Barber, Alabama
Freshman of the Year: Flau’jae Johnson, LSU
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 11:09 AM.
