“E le mafai ona taofi le sao o le vasa,” you can’t stop the tide of the ocean. And Te-Hina Paopao grew up moving with its pull. Coming out of La Jolla, Pao Pao chose the University of Oregon to stay near her West Coast roots. But when Dawn Staley called, something deeper stirred. “It was either ‘you’re gonna come with me or you’re just gonna stay at home and watch from afar,’” Pao Pao said. She followed the current toward greatness, and this time, it was backed by determination. “All I really needed was a bed and where to sleep at, and play basketball at,” she revealed.
Safe to say the sacrifice paid off. In her very first year in the SEC, Te-Hina helped South Carolina sweep the trifecta. They won the regular season, conference tourney, and ultimately the national championship. That year, the University of South Carolina toppled Caitlin Clark’s Iowa in an undefeated season, with Paopao running point. And in the process, she built something even bigger: a family of Gamecocks. Not just current teammates, but forever teammates from the past, present, and future. That’s the Dawn Staley standard – the unbreakable bond that screams “you’re always a Gamecock” once you wear the jersey.
And of course, the players adopt it unknowingly. It even showed up during a preseason Dream vs. Fever game. On the iHeart podcast with Khristina Williams, Paopao was asked about that viral moment with fellow former Gamecock, Aliyah Boston. “As a rookie, you had some like viral moments. One of them, I remember, like it was preseason and Aliyah Boston was on the free throw line. Describe that moment. What happened that moment? Did you sort of forget that you all were not teammates anymore?”
Well, here’s what happened – Aliyah Boston stepped up to the free-throw line, and with her 79.8% FT rate, you can bet she sank it. The Fever bench clapped, cheered… and so did someone else. From the other side of the court. “I thought we were shooting the free throw, but I was talking to my teammate and I just saw a shot going and then I just started flapping and it happened to be Aliyah.” Yep, a slightly distracted Paopao accidentally celebrated a bucket for her former teammate. After all, old habits (and Gamecock pride) die hard. So did she regret it later?
Not even for a second. “And so I was like, you know what, that’s cool. I mean, you know, Gamecock alumni, why not?” she shrugged. Even though they never shared the court in college, both brought home the same championship grit: Boston in 2022, Paopao in 2024.
Their NCAA Tenures:
Season
Te-Hina Paopao
Aliyah Boston
2019–20
La Jolla Country Day School
South Carolina
2020–21
Oregon
South Carolina
2021–22
Oregon
South Carolina
2022–23
Oregon
South Carolina
2023–24
South Carolina
Graduated
2024–25
South Carolina
Graduated
Paopao’s reaction wasn’t surprising. After all, Coach Staley is like a mother to every Carolina player, and naturally, her children share a sibling-like bond. They’ve learned it from her. As Staley once said, “Being in Columbia, South Carolina, it’s like being at no other place,” and that sentiment echoes far beyond college. You see it play out in real time across the WNBA – every time a former Gamecock gets drafted or drops a stat-stuffed line, Staley is right there, courtside… or timeline-side.
A few instances being “Split screening @WNBA games today! @GamecockWBB on @GamecockWBB crime in full effect! .” Or “Did yall see all the @GamecockWBB won today! @aa_boston lead us with 26pts/10rebs! @_ajawilson22 24pts/7rebs. @tehinapaopaoo 16pts (5 3s) @Graytness_15 19pts (5 3s) @Kamillascsilva 7pts/5rebs! @WNBA is in a great place!!”
Now, although Boston and Paopao never shared the court (or a championship run), there is a certain Class of ’25 Gamecock and WNBA draftee who did overlap with both Boston and Paopao during her South Carolina reign.
Aliyah Boston and the Gamecock Thread
She’s the 20th overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft, and her name is Bree Hall. The South Carolina guard who bookended her collegiate career with two national championships. One out of those came alongside Aliyah Boston in 2022 and another with Te-Hina Paopao in 2024. Here’s the breakdown of her South Carolina tenure:
Season
Bree Hall
2021–22
South Carolina (w/ Boston)
2022–23
South Carolina
2023–24
South Carolina (w/ Paopao)
2024–25
South Carolina
When Bree Hall and Paopao graduated together in 2025, it was a full-circle moment for Aliyah Boston. The Indiana Fever star shared a photo of the pair on her Instagram story with a heartfelt caption: “Where has the time gone?” It carried real emotion. After all, Aliyah Boston had mentored Hall. She had been her teammate during their 35-2 championship season, and their bond ran deep.
The official Gamecocks Instagram account posted their graduation photo, which Boston then shared with her 326K followers. She shouted out both Bree and Te-Hina. But the story got even better hours later at the 2025 WNBA Draft. The Indiana Fever selected Bree Hall in the second round (No. 20 overall). This move reunited her with Boston at the professional level. “BIG BREEZY REUNION … im literally crying rn,” Boston tweeted on X/Twitter. The cherry on top was that Hall became the second Gamecock drafted that night, right after Paopao went No. 18.
Bree Hall is currently a free agent, though. However, we will be looking forward to her moments with Paopao and Boston.
The post Atlanta Dream Star Recalls Going Viral for Cheering On Caitlin Clark’s Teammate appeared first on EssentiallySports.