college sports

Aliyah Boston of South Carolina and Caitlin Clark of Iowa are unanimous choices for The Associated Press preseason women's basketball All-America team. Both were selected on every ballot by the 30-member national media panel that chooses the Top 25 each week. Seniors Haley Jones of Stanford, Ashley Joens of Iowa State and Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech were also selected as well as sophomore Aneesah Morrow of DePaul.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley is set to receive the Billie Jean King Leadership Award at the Women's Sports Foundation's annual dinner in New York. Staley's busy offseason after winning a second NCAA basketball title has included savoring the victory, lining up team-wide NIL deals and supporting coaches of color. Nearly 80 Black coaches have received pieces of the 2017 winning nets from Staley, and she plans to hand out the 2022 winning nets to Black sports journalists. On Wednesday night, she'll be on the receiving end of more accolades.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley has gone through a consequential year of success, both on and off the basketball court. Along the way, Staley has become the voice of leadership and direction in the women's game. She jokes often that she never planned to get into coaching before accepting the job at Temple even though she has always had in her. Staley's role as an elite point guard was to serve as the coach on the floor. She won her second NCAA Tournament crown — the first Black coach to accomplish the feat — with a 64-49 victory over UConn. Her success has given Staley the platform to champion issues off the court. She continues to speak out about gender equity, diversity and opportunities for women.

South Carolina State women's coach Audra Smith was fired a day after filing suit against the school alleging Title IX violations and discriminatory practices at the university. Smith was in her fourth season at the school. Her suit was filed Wednesday in federal court. She said in the complaint the school continually provided fewer resources to women's teams, athletes and coaches than received by men's teams. Smith's suit asked for undisclosed damages. On Thursday, South Carolina State ended Smith's contract. Smith was 24-73 in four seasons in charge of the program.