South Carolina's Aliyah Boston Named 2022 Women's Wooden Award Winner

South Carolina superstar Aliyah Boston was named the winner of the 2022 John R. Wooden Award on Monday after leading the Gamecocks to a national title Sunday with a 64-49 win over the UConn Huskies.

The Wooden Award is given annually to the most outstanding player in college basketball.

Boston is just the second player from South Carolina to win the Wooden Award, joining WNBA star A'ja Wilson, who won it in 2018. She also won the Naismith, Associated Press and Women's Basketball Coaches Association player of the year awards this season.

The junior forward had a phenomenal 2021-22 season, averaging 16.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 54.2 percent from the floor.

It follows up a sophomore season in which she averaged 13.7 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game for a Gamecocks team that lost in the Final Four to eventual champion Stanford.

After South Carolina fell to Stanford last year, a photo of Boston crying circulated online. She was crying again Sunday night but clarified they were "happy tears" after finally winning a title in her junior season.

“Everyone had a picture of me crying at the end of the Final Four [last year] and they put it everywhere … but today we're national champions and [I’m crying] happy tears,” Boston said to ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the win.

Boston is undoubtedly bound for the WNBA, but she'll have at least one more season at South Carolina to add to her already-historic resume.