COLOMBIA – Dawn Staley mentioned that she believed that Aliyah Boston, the only finalist in the Naismith National Player of the Year and National Defense Player of the Year award, deserved to win both.
There are still a few days left to vote, but Boston is certainly not hurting his candidacies.
Mimicking his performance in the opening defeat of the NCAA Tournament at Mercer, Boston faced Oregon State with 19 points and seven rebounds in a 59-42 victory of 32 on March 23. The sophomore, sometimes overshadowed by the Beavers’ monstrous height, made them look knee-high, twisting them in Windsor knots.
Boston beat Mercer by 20 points and 18 rebounds, and although she was not a big chunk on the charts against the OSU, she didn’t have to be. His shots went in, leaving no room for second chances.
The Gamecocks (24-4) advanced to their seventh consecutive Sweet 16 under coach Dawn Staley and eighth in nine tournaments. They will play against Georgia Tech on March 27th.
Boston followed the start of the race, while the rest of the Gamecocks shook their cold shot, and when the Beavers embarked on a 1 in 10 stretch of the field in the second quarter, the USC spotted their runway. Gamecocks posted a 20-2 run at halftime to effectively improve the game.
“I thought our defense was in place and the way we wanted to play the entire game,” said Staley. “We went out and just played bravely. It was a drop by drop effect. “
USC maintained the best team in the country with 3 percentage points, against 3 of 19 in long distance. Boston received the ball early against Beavers center pioneer Taylor Jones, his second highest scorer and best hitter, and the whistle made up for two fouls on Jones in the first 5:11.
“That was definitely something we talked about, getting her into trouble,” said Boston. “In fact, putting their big ones in trouble so that we don’t have to worry about them throughout the game.”
“They had to go to the bank much sooner than they probably would have liked. (Jones) played 18 minutes, and she was 60 percent off the ground, ”said Staley. “Imagine if she played her normal 28, 30, 32 minutes. We would be in trouble because it could have erased the lead that we had just finished producing. “
Without Jones, Oregon State (12-8) received a boost from reserve Jelena Mitrovic, but the Beavers’ game plan was already destroyed with Jones out. Gamecocks paid no attention to the height of the OSU as they ran past it, and when Boston established a bridgehead, guards Destanni Henderson and Zia Cooke took over.
Those two added 22 points. The Gamecocks’ defense kept the state of Oregon 30 points below the season average.
“We had the bank overturned, I’ll tell you that. We were going crazy, ”said Boston. “They were talking about defense, stealing, performing as we want to play.”
Follow David Cloninger on Twitter @DCPandC.