South Carolina star Aliyah Boston dominates with 28 points, 22 boards in Sweet 16 win

GREENSBORO, N.C. — When South Carolina needed to put the game away in the fourth quarter against North Carolina in the Sweet 16 on Friday night, the Gamecocks predictably turned to their best player.

And Aliyah Boston dominated in an entirely new way.

Boston scored all of South Carolina's points in the final quarter, leading the No. 1 seed Gamecocks to the Elite Eight with a 69-61 win. Despite North Carolina's best efforts to limit her points in the paint, Boston was able to take over the game in large part due to her offensive rebounding, second-chance points and free throws.

She finished with 28 points and 22 rebounds, the first time in her career she went for more than 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game. It was just the fourth time in NCAA women's tournament history that a player had 25 points and 20 rebounds in a game.

Asked in the postgame news conference whether she was demanding the ball in the fourth quarter, Boston said no, then added, «I probably should have,» before chuckling.

«I was just being patient, and a lot of it came off of rebounds because they took expected shots,» she said. «I was able to just be there for the rebound, so I just tried to crash the boards.»

North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart and her players decided the best game plan would be to stop points in the paint. While South Carolina was held below its average in that category, to a season-low 20 points, its improved perimeter shooting allowed the Gamecocks to grow their lead to double digits when the third quarter ended.

But the Tar Heels made another run after shutting down South Carolina's perimeter shooting, closing the gap to four with 2:02 left to play. There was only one problem: stopping South Carolina from making 3s is not enough