Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston's Connection Was Shown Before Being Fever Teammates
By the end of their season, the chemistry that Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston cultivated during their time playing on the Indiana Fever together seemed like it had been forged years ago.
And that's because it was.
Both Clark and Boston played on various Team USA amateur teams as they continued their ascent up to and through college. While the two players didn't spend a ton of time playing on the same teams, there was one major tournament where they were on the same Team USA roster: the 2019 FIBA U19 Women's Basketball World Cup, which took place in Bangkok, Thailand.
Team USA won a gold medal during that tournament. And a clip of Clark dishing an assist to Boston during the championship game (which was a nail-biting 74-70 overtime win against Australia) surfaced on X Thursday.
X user @ericaf455 posted the video of the assist and wrote, "Caitlin Clark passing to Aliyah Boston back on the U19 USA team
"Our ABC connection before being on the Fever together 🥹🥹🥹".
Caitlin Clark passing to Aliyah Boston back on the U19 USA team
— ericaf455 (@ericaf455) November 8, 2024
Our ABC connection before being on the Fever together 🥹🥹🥹 pic.twitter.com/GL3edGmgOC
This bucket marked 2 of the 12 points Boston scored in that championship game. As for Clark, she only finished the contest with 3 points and 3 assists. But that's because Paige Bueckers and Hailey Van Lith (both of whom are now top college guards) combined for 33 points in the win.
This team also included Cameron Brink, Rhyne Howard, and various other players who are now in the WNBA.
Bueckers won tournament MVP in 2019. However, during the 2021 U19 FIBA Women's World Cup (which Boston didn't participate in), it was Clark who won tournament MVP.
We imagine Clark and Bueckers will be competing for more MVP awards in the future.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.