Indiana Fever Select Aliyah Boston No. 1 In 2023 WNBA Draft

NEW YORK -- What was long expected finally came to fruition Monday night, as the Indiana Fever selected former South Carolina star and 2022 Naismith Player of the Year Aliyah Boston with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 WNBA draft at New York City's Spring Studios.

Boston -- a 6-foot-5 forward who grew up in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands before moving to Massachusetts as a teenager to pursue her basketball dream -- became the second top overall pick out of South Carolina, joining two-time league MVP A'ja Wilson in 2018.

"It's just really special," said Boston, who dazzled at the draft wearing a white jumpsuit and mostly purple hair. "I'm thankful, first, to God just for putting me in this position but also thankful to everybody in Indiana, just because they saw something in me and I'm just ready to get there and get to work."

The 2023 draft was a massive success for the entire Gamecocks program, which saw five players selected -- Boston, Laeticia Amihere (No. 8 overall by the Atlanta Dream), Zia Cooke (No. 10 by the Los Angeles Sparks), Brea Beal (No. 24 by the Minnesota Lynx) and Victaria Saxton (No. 25 by the Fever).

South Carolina became the fourth program to have at least five players selected in a single draft, joining Notre Dame in 2019 and Tennessee in 2008 and 1999.

WNBA First-Round Draft Picks

1. Fever Aliyah Boston S. Carolina
2. Lynx Diamond Miller Maryland
3. Wings Maddy Siegrist Villanova
4. Mystics Stephanie Soares* Iowa State
5. Wings Lou Lopez Senechal UConn
6. Dream Haley Jones Stanford
7. Fever Grace Berger Indiana
8. Dream Laeticia Amihere S. Carolina
9. Storm Jordan Horston Tennessee
10. Sparks Zia Cooke S. Carolina
11. Wings Abby Meyers Maryland
12. Lynx Maia Hirsch France
*traded to Wings for picks

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Filed Under: Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever, South Carolina Gamecocks, WNBA Draft, WNBA First-Round Draft Picks

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