Boston, Reese in focus as Gamecocks host LSU
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Angel Reese thought hard about joining South Carolina when she was transferring from Maryland last offseason.
If she had, there might not have been enough points or rebounds for anyone other than herself or hypothetical teammate Aliyah Boston.
That would have worked for Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley, no matter who had to sit for the reigning national champions.
“There’s always room,” Staley said Friday, “for Angel Reese.”
Boston and Reese, the two most dynamic players and most reliable double-double producers currently competing in Southeastern Conference women’s basketball, will take center stage on ESPN when the topranked Gamecocks (24-0, 11-0) host Reese’s No. 3 LSU Tigers (23-0, 11-0) at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Reese, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, has 23 consecutive doubledoubles, an SEC record to start a season.
Boston, at 6-5, is the reigning AP player of the year and has continued her consistent success in her fourth college season. Her 76 career doubledoubles are a South Carolina record, and she has 16 in 24 games this season.
Reese knows Sunday’s focus is on her against Boston, but she believes it should be about the Tigers against the Gamecocks.
“Our team knows what we have and they know what they have,” Reese said. “I think it’s great for women’s basketball overall. It’s going to be a great game.”
LSU with Reese has reached elite status in coach Kim Mulkey’s second season, with the Tigers right on the heels of the SEC’s current powerhouse team.
Reese leads the conference with 23.5 points and 15.8 rebounds a game. Boston averages 13.3 points, and her 10.0 rebounds per game are second to Reese.
Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors was paying Boston and Reese a compliment — and seeking to make his job a bit easier — when he said “I hope they both declare early” for the WNBA draft.
The two are similar forces around the basket: skilled in their movement and impossible to slow down, he said.
“What do you tell a kid? Box out? That’s not going to do it,” Neighbors said. “There’s not really a solution to some of the things that they do.”
Boston’s minutes have decreased because South Carolina has had control of most games by halftime. She was two rebounds away from her ninth straight double-double in Thursday’s 83-48 win at Auburn. Staley asked if she wanted to stay in late to keep the streak alive, but Boston was content with the outcome and unconcerned with personal goals.
However, when it’s time to compete, Boston’s ready: She scored 23 of her 26 points in the second half of South Carolina’s 81-77 road win last Sunday against Connecticut, which was ranked fifth at the time.
Boston has heard what others think is at stake in this matchup, including SEC and national player of the year awards.
“If that’s what they’re looking at, I guess I leave that up to them,” she said. “But coming into this game, I can’t look at it as, ‘Oh, I need to win. I need to do this or that to get national player of the year,’ because in reality that’s not the biggest goal. The biggest … is the national championship.”
Reese is known for her game and her sense of fashion, sporting long eyelashes and painted nails. She has embraced her nickname, “Bayou Barbie,” to the point that she’s applied to have it trademarked and intends to produce merchandise.
Her name, image and likeness evaluation is worth $258,000, according to On3. com’s tracker. That’s about $150,000 more than Boston.
Around the holidays, Reese persuaded one of her top sponsors, handbag company Coach, to provide bags that retail for about $500 to each of her teammates. She wanted them to benefit from her financial success.
“I can’t do this without them,” she said. “I feel like I’ve grown my platform here at LSU, and without my teammates and my coaches, I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
ESPN analyst Debbie Antonelli thinks Staley and her team’s nationally ranked No. 1 defense will look to end Reese’s double-double streak in front a sold-out arena Sunday.
Said Antonelli: “It’ll be fun to watch.”
It will also be a chance for both teams to prove themselves further.
On Thursday, the NCAA Division I women’s basketball tournament selection committee revealed for the first time this season which teams are in line for the top 16 seeds for March Madness, and committee chair Lisa Peterson said they “joked that the only that was easy was putting South Carolina at No. 1 (overall). It’s a true testament to the competitive parity of women’s basketball right now.”
The Gamecocks were followed by Indiana, Stanford and Connecticut as the four teams that would be No. 1 seeds if the bracket were revealed at that time. LSU was just behind at fifth overall and a No. 2 seed.
Although South Carolina’s blowout win at Auburn didn’t factor into the rankings reveal, something Staley said after gave a good indication of what has her program playing so well.
“We have a team that just takes care of what’s in front of them, doesn’t look ahead,” she explained. “We stay current, and that’s because we’ve got a very experienced, seasoned team. They’ve always been that way. No matter what game that’s in front of us, they’ve stayed current.”
And with Selection Sunday still a month away, there’s currently work to be done.