The ball goes off the back of the rim as the buzzer sounds, and Aliyah Boston is in disbelief. She has hit this shot 1000 times, a little putback just over the front of the rim. The ball bounces off metal instead of dropping through the net when she wanted to hit it the most in the Final Four.
Boston squats low as she turns her back to the basket. She presses her palms against the hardwood and bows her head into her jersey as her teammates collapse around her. Boston feels like she let them down by not showing up when they needed her. There are no more games. It is over.
Boston takes a couple steps after pushing herself back into a standing position. South Carolina assistant coach Fred Chmiel hugs Boston as she cries.
Fran Belibi and Haley Jones ran over to embrace her after stopping their celebration. Jones and Belibi may be going on to the national championship game, but they are also sad for Boston.
She embraces the fire burning within her after the confetti clears from the eventual championship two days later, and after the River Walk in San Antonio empties. It will not happen again. As she sits with her mother, Aliyah shares her plans.
The narrative is going to change according to Aliyah.
The home of Aliyah Boston is not just San Antonio. Tim Duncan is the biggest basketball star to hail from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Boston is from St. Thomas, while Duncan is from St. Croix. Boston helped turn the page after a friend of a family friend introduced him. To help her learn. She wants to win the national championship with South Carolina.
Boston and Duncan worked out for five days in Duncan's hometown. She could be a threat if she expanded the areas on the floor. They put on gloves and boxed after he preached patience.
The work was put off the court by Boston. She lost 20 pounds and increased her vertical jump by four inches by changing her nutrition habits.
Boston was in the best shape of her life when she returned to Columbia. The junior is a finalist for the Wooden Award, the national defensive player of the year and the national player of the year. She has an SEC record 26 consecutive double-doubles and leads the country in win shares. Boston is not flashy because of her long braids. She does not dunk and she does not launch from the logo. She is a force. Look out when Boston steps through a double team for a lay-in. It is easy money. She has averaged 16.4 points, 12.1 rebound and 2.6 blocks per game. She is shooting from the field.
Pick the winner of each game of the women's NCAA tournament. Play a tournament.
South Carolina is four wins away from its second national championship.
South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley says she would have loved to play with Aliyah. She makes playing easier by telling you what to do.
She is the national player of the year, according to Las Vegas Aces star A&ja Wilson. When you consistently put up the same amount of numbers and do your job, that is greatness. That is what you are seeing in Aliyah.
South Carolina has been the top team in the country for much of the season, dropping only two games and running through nearly the entire list of top 10 teams. The Gamecocks have beaten the other teams in the national title hunt, including reigning national champion Stanford, fellow top seed NC State, and perennial powerhouses Tennessee and Maryland. Next up is North Carolina, a team the Gamecocks haven't played in a while.
The Gamecocks have looked vulnerable so far in the tournament. The road to the program's second national title has become a bit more difficult. It is easy to dismiss the losses to Missouri and Kentucky as a blip, but in the first two rounds of the tournament, offense has been an issue. South Carolina only put up 49 points as a result of their 16 point win against Miami in the second round. Boston shot just 4-for-15 from the field.
The second round was difficult for many top seeds. 3 Indiana squeaked out a one-point win against Princeton. Both Iowa and Baylor lost at home to 10 seeds. Notre Dame ran out of Oklahoma's gym. March is supposed to be Madness.
The cruel twists of the NCAA tournament can be seen in Boston. She thinks the team can win the trophy this year. She didn't leave her family behind for anything less.
Being in the water is what aliyyah loves. She has been a member of the Tiny Bubbles swim club on the beach of the island since she was young. There was a pancake handed out by the teacher, who still sends the Boston family birthday cards on Aliyah's andAlexis' birthdays.
She hugs her family and heads to the beach whenever Boston comes back. The water in St. Thomas is clear. Boston loves being in that water, twirling in the salty waves.
St. Thomas has more than 40,000 people. Aliyah attended a small school. Basketball was found through that small school. They practiced on the outdoor courts when they were kids. It was just a ball, a rim, and the island sun.
Boston attended her first basketball camp when she was 10 years old. She was sent to a Nike camp by her parents. Massachusetts was not a hub of basketball development, but it cost us a lot. If they learn the sport, that could be a way to pay for college.
Sacred Heart University in Connecticut hosted a camp the next summer. When she was looking for another camp, she found a program near her sister's home. They played the entire summer in Massachusetts, but there were other schools that they liked. Aliyah says that a plan was hatched for them to stay with their aunt in Worcester.
It wasn't an easy decision, but it was a quick one. The two girls were just 14 and 12. Al was not happy about his daughters going away for school. Even if unofficially, he loved coaching them. Al was so present that he was in the team picture.
Her daughters were going to be nearly 2,000 miles away from their home. Her sister didn't go to church as often as she did, and faith was important to her family. On Sundays at home, Aliyah andAlexis went to church and stayed after school. They would return to a home-cooked meal. Aliyah preferred baked macaroni and cheese, oxtail, red peas and rice.
Aliyah had a game the day after her confirmation in the Episcopal church. She went up the hill to the court. One or the other was never an option. She was going to a basketball camp a few days later.
They were bound to be different in that part of their life. She wasn't sure if her sister would prioritize their faith. There would not be baked mac and cheese and oxtail.
She had to let that go so her daughters could have different experiences. She still prayed. And prayed. And prayed.
One of the first things Sherry Levin did after being hired for her second stint as the girls basketball coach at the academy was call her mother to make sure she knew how special her daughter was. The freshman season of Aliyah was watched by Levin and he didn't think she was being used correctly. She wanted to run the offense through Aliyah, rather than relying on putbacks as she did her freshman season.
Boston was a sophomore at the time. She moved to Massachusetts for the third year in a row. She was asked what she wanted to achieve.
Boston wants to be a high-level basketball player in college. And then the women's basketball league.
By the time she was a junior, the word was out about Aliyah Boston. Aliyah was drawing the first team of college coaches, while Alexis was playing at the junior-college level. The basketball team ran in the old gym during the fall open gym. The small court was made smaller by the wooden track above it. Corner 3 or even a corner 15-footer is impossible because the lane is prime real estate.
The coaches lined the sideline in their folding chairs, each of them making the trek to central Massachusetts for a chance to convince Boston to pick them for college. Louisville, Connecticut, Notre Dame, Maryland, Florida State, and South Carolina are some of the schools. He handed out water bottles. She was unable to coach during the fall ball. State rules.
It is not like there is any defense being played. Layups.
Boston narrowed down her choices. She made her announcement at home. She could see the bottom of the ocean.
Boston said that the most important thing was the honesty of the coach. Some things are hard to hear, but I think that she was just realistic. I like that about her.
South Carolina would be another new place for Boston, but it is the place where she has been able to grow into her dreams.
Boston hit the practice court in early January, days after South Carolina lost to Missouri. She runs hard, she sets screens for her teammates, and she sinks her open shots.
Boston picks up a new play immediately.
Some people are born with the ability to raise the level of a team. They understand that when you have to do it, you have to allow other people to do it.
She knows she has a goal, and she knows she has to get to that goal no matter who is in her way.
In an era of positionless basketball, where highlights are full of dribble step-backs and long 3-point shots, Boston's drop-step and center dominance goes against the grain.
"When you're consistently putting up the same amount of numbers and doing your job, that's greatness. And that's what you're seeing in Aliyah." A'ja Wilson
Belibi says that she doesn't get the credit she deserves because she is a post player. Not necessarily change the games, but remind people of how the game used to be played and how it can still be played.
Take an early-season game against Kansas State and one of the top centers in the game, Ayoka Lee. Boston scored 21 points on 9-of-11 shooting. Her points, field goal percentage, and rebound in that 65-44 win would not be her season highs.
Boston is funnier off the court. Boston has stuffed animals all over her bed, including a plush ball named Winston. Let that one go.
Whether she is making sure everyone knows to follow her on TikTok or laughing about going to the house for burgers. AA_Boston is on the social networking site. An abundance of joy follows Boston. She got her rhythm now. She has elevated her life.
Boston says he can hit you with a body roll.
Boston doesn't like to talk about what happened in San Antonio, the missed shot and the Final Four. She didn't watch much basketball after last season. She could not re-watch the game.
Boston doesn't think about it unless he is asked the question. If you sit on the moment all the time, that doesn't really help you get any better because you're focused on that exact thing.
She is not happy with the questions about it. Sitting at a high-top table outside of the South Carolina practice gym, her eyes well with tears when the subject comes up. Boston's agonized, tear-stained face has been used in ads for March Madness and promotional materials for women's college basketball. Those images should not be used to represent Boston.
She is more than a missed shot. She is an ocean enthusiast, a budding dancer, a driven athlete and a devoted Christian. One of her favorite Bible quotes is "No weapon formed against you shall prosper."
No missed opportunity, no missed shot will prosper against Boston. It will be settled on the court in Minneapolis if she has her way. Her smile, not her tears, will be the lasting image.
She says the narrative is going to change.
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