South Carolina star Aliyah Boston continues to add to her already impressive resume. On Monday, Boston won the Honda Cup to become the 2022 Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year.
Each year, the Honda Sports Award is given to the top female athletes in 12 NCAA-sanctioned sports. One of them goes on to earn the athlete of the year title. Boston is the first athlete from the University of South Carolina to win the award.
She is now part of an elite group of basketball players to receiver the honor. WNBA stars Brittney Griner, Candace Parker and Maya Moore are some of the past winners. Boston’s coach, Dawn Staley, also won the award same award in 1991 when she played for Virginia.
“It means a lot because a lot of these women are my role models,” Boston said. “Coach Staley was a past winner. Candace Parker is one of my role models since I was nine years old. To be able to be in this group with them, wow, I can’t believe it.”
Earlier this year, Boston also received the Naismith Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year awards. The 6’5″ forward lifted the Gamecocks to a 35-2 overall record through a 2021-22 campaign in which South Carolina went wire-to-wire as the No. 1 team in the nation. She led her team with 16.8 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, while also registering 27 straight double-doubles through the season. The Gamecocks went on to lift the 2022 NCAA Championship trophy.
South Carolina was a scary sight and will likely continue to be one of the dominating teams next season with Boston as the main key for the budding dynasty.
“When I committed to South Carolina, everybody asked me if I wanted to become the next A’ja Wilson,” Boston said. “My response was always, ‘I want to be the next Aliyah Boston.”http://www.cbssports.com/”
