Aliyah Boston & Brea Beal Named To Naismith DPOY Watchlist

Two South Carolina star women's basketball players, Aliyah Boston and Brea Beal, were named to the watchlist for a prestigious national award.

Dawn Staley's team is over two-thirds of the way through the regular season and has proven to the entire sport why they're the defending national champions. One of the catalysts for the team's dominant showing this year is the production they've seen in their senior class, including Aliyah Boston, Brea Beal, and Zia Cooke.

While Cooke has been making her impact largely on the offensive end for the Gamecocks, being the team's leading scorer through 20 games, Boston and Beal have predominantly affected their opponents when back on defense. 

Boston ranks 18th in women's college basketball in total blocks and rebounds, while Beal has continued to showcase her ability to lock down an opposing team's biggest offensive threat, and their play through January has led to them both being named to the inaugural watchlist for the Naismith Women's Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Boston is the most recent award winner, while Beal, whose defensive prowess gained national attention in last season's Final Four, makes the watchlist for the first time in her career.

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