Junior forward Aliyah Boston won the 2022 Player of the Year and head coach Dawn Staley won her fifth Coach of the Year award, the SEC announced Tuesday.
Boston is the first Gamecock since A’ja Wilson in 2018 to win SEC Player of the Year. Boston also earned her third Defensive Player of the Year award, this time winning it outright after sharing the award with Georgia’s Que Morrison in 2021.
Staley again took the Coach of the Year award after leading the team to a 15-1 conference record. The South Carolina women's basketball team dominated the conference this season, leading to its third regular-season title in the past three years. The team won all but three of the team’s 15 conference wins were by double-digits.
Two Gamecocks were chosen for the All-SEC first team. Boston earned her third consecutive first-team honor after averaging 17 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks on the season. Senior guard Destanni Henderson joined her, averaging 12 points, four assists and four rebounds.
Junior guard Zia Cooke earned All-SEC second-team honors. Cooke averaged 12 points, two rebounds and two assists this season for the No. 1 ranked Gamecocks.
Boston was also selected to the All-defensive team, her third selection in a row. She is the only Gamecock on the team.
Individual awards and accolades are a reflection of the success earned in the regular season. South Carolina will now shift focus on achieving postseason success, starting with its first game in the SEC tournament on March 4 in Nashville.