Aliyah Boston, a St. Thomas native who ESPN has designated the No. 3 ranked high school women’s basketball recruit in the country, has chosen the University of South Carolina to spend the next four years and advance her already impressive basketball career.
Boston, who moved to the mainland at the age of 12 and plays for Worcester Academy, chose the Gamecocks over Ohio State University and Notre Dame. Last summer she played on the U.S. women’s U-17 team that won a world championship in Belarus.
The decision was made public when the two-time Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year returned home with her high school team to play in the second annual Rock City Jam, an exhibition game featuring the V.I. Daughters, an all-star squad that features the best high school players in the territory. The game took place Wednesday evening in the gym at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.
In the game, the 6-foot, 4-inch Boston showed why she is so highly regarded in college scouting circles, scoring 14 points to go with 12 rebounds. Her nine blocked shots left her one shy of a triple double.
The V.I. Daughters, the traveling team of the V.I. College Prospects program, scored first, but Worcester got the the game’s next eight points. The visitors cranked up the defensive pressure and by the end of the first quarter the score was 17-5.
Around the four-minute mark Boston blocked shots on back-to-back possessions and finished in transition, as the score grew to 29-8. At halftime the lead had grown to 41-12.
The second half didn’t get much better for the local squad; when the final buzzer sounded the visitors from Massachusetts had won by a score of 66-22.
The Worcester Academy team has been very active in its time in the Virgin Islands before the game, taking time out to make an impact on the community and hosting a basketball clinic for children.
