Staley, Boston repeat as prestigious Naismith Awards recipients
South Carolina women’s basketball head coach Dawn Staley and star player Aliyah Boston have been honored for the second year in a row with prestigious awards.
Staley has been named the Naismith Coach of the Year, while Boston picked up Defensive Player of the Year honors.
Caitlin Clark, the standout guard from South Carolina’s Final Four opponent in Iowa, won the 2023 Naismith Player of the Year award. Boston won the award in 2022.
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The picks of Boston and Staley represent the first time ever that the Naismith Awards have tabbed consecutive winners of two different awards from the same program.
“Being named Werner Ladder Naismith Coach of the Year is an honor for our whole coaching staff. The hours they put in to help our team don’t go unnoticed, and we couldn’t be in this position without their continued commitment to our program,” Staley said in a release provided by the organization. “I also want to thank our team, who makes our jobs a little easier by their commitment to the hard work and sacrifice it takes for us to be in the position of being undefeated and in the Final Four. Their respect for our sport, our program and each other has been rock solid from day one, and I thank them for that.”
Staley has guided South Carolina’s women’s basketball program to the Final Four once again this season. Under her direction, USC has captured two national championships in 2017 and 2022.
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Boston has also been named a first-team AP All-American selection for the third year in a row as well as the SEC’s Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
She has also won the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year every single season she’s been in Columbia. Boston has averaged a double-double for her entire career.
“I’m very thankful to God for winning the 2023 Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award, it’s such a blessing,” Boston said in the Naismith Awards release. “I’m also incredibly grateful for my teammates and my coaches, they were the ones that put me in a position to win this award and I’m very appreciative of all that they do.”
South Carolina is set to take on Iowa in the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four on Friday night at 9:30 ET.
