Aliyah Boston of St. Thomas is a WNBA All-Star.
And a WNBA All-Star starter.
The league announced Boston, a rookie forward-center for the Indiana Fever, as one of its 10 All-Star starters on Sunday – the latest in a long line of achievements for the former South Carolina women’s basketball great and No. 1 overall pick of the 2023 WNBA Draft.
Boston was one of six frontcourt players voted as All-Star starters. Former Gamecocks standout A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, the league’s reigning MVP, was also among that group and earned her fifth All-Star appearances in six seasons.
The WNBA selected its All-Stars without conference affiliation and drew from three groups for selecting its 10 starters: fans (50% of the vote), current players (25%) and media (25%).
The league’s 12 All-Star reserves, which are voted on exclusively by head coaches, were selected after the starters announcement and will be revealed next Saturday.
The two captains will then draft their rosters from the remaining pool of eight All-Star starters – Boston’s group – and then the 12 reserves in a July 8 selection special. The 2023 WNBA All-Star Game is set for July 15 in Las Vegas.
Boston, recently named the WNBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week, entered the weekend leading the league in field goal percentage (64.3%). She was also leading all rookies in points (15.4), rebounds (8.0), blocks (1.6) and minutes (29.3) per game.
The 6-5 Boston as made an immediate impact for the Fever, who were a league-worst 5-31 last season but have already matched that win total from last year at 5-7 entering the weekend. Indiana is also 5-5 in its last 10 games.
Boston — who appeared in three Final Fours, made three AP All-America first teams and won a 2022 national championship at USC — was the second No. 1 pick in school history behind Wilson, who was picked first by the Aces in 2018.