Fever’s Christie Sides: Aliyah Boston is an incredible piece for us

Boston recorded eight points and two rebounds in her first preseason game in a loss to the Sky.

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley knew. She always knows.

Aliyah Boston is thriving in the WNBA and the head coach of her new team, the Indiana Fever, praised her ahead of their preseason opener on Sunday versus the Chicago Sky.

“Aliyah is ready. She’s always ready. She’s such a pro already,” Fever head coach Christie Sides said. “She’s young, but I was really excited for her to get to go home and go back to South Carolina and walk across that stage, and I think she told me there were like 14,000 people ahead of her. Like she had to wait on, which I was like, ‘What?’

“She’s just an incredible piece for us. I mean both as a player and as a person. She’s come in every day. She works hard every day. She looks to get better. She talks to her teammates, she talks to the vets a lot about what can I do? How can I get better? How can I do this better for Coach? She’s just an incredible piece for us.”

Boston started the preseason against the Sky. While the Fever lost, 81-56, she played almost 16 minutes and had eight points and two rebounds. Their last preseason game before the season commences is at home against the Dallas Wings on May 13. The season starts for the Fever on May 19 against the Connecticut Sun at home at 7 p.m. ET.

After the game, Boston spoke to the media about her style of play.

Just being physical and being available when my team needed me. Just trying to make sure that I’m posting up strong and taking my time and finishing around the rim.

Boston does have a strong style of play and the refs did penalize her a bit in the game. She walked away with three personal fouls and was tied for first for the highest number of fouls in the game for her team. Boston’s former South Carolina Gamecocks teammate, Destanni Henderson, also had three and so did Victoria Vivians.

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