COLUMBIA, S.C. — When you lead your team to a perfect 16-0 conference record, it would take something out of the ordinary for that person to not be named Coach of the Year.
That did not happen as South Carolina's Dawn Staley was named SEC Coach of the Year as voted on by her peers. This marks the fourth time Staley has earned this award.
The league coaches also named Gamecock freshman Aliyah Boston the Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. With two of the league's highest honors, Boston joined South Carolina's Alaina Coates (2014) as the only freshmen in league history to earn multiple individual awards in a season. She is the Gamecocks' third SEC Defensive Player of the Year (Ieasia Walker, 2013; A'ja Wilson 2016, 2018) and the third to earn SEC Freshman of the Year honors from the league coaches (Coates, 2014; Wilson 2015).
Boston and senior guard Ty'asha Harris were named First Team All-SEC.
Mikiah Herbert-Herrigan was named to the second team, while Zia Cooke joined Boston on the SEC All-Freshman team.
The top-ranked Gamecocks earned the top seed in the SEC Tournament and will be in action Friday in Greenville against the winner of Thursday's game between Georgia and Alabama.
