The only numbers that seemed to matter to her afterward were the half-dozen family members from northeast Ohio and Columbus who had come to see her play and now congregated around her; and the equal number of excited little girls who stood nearby, waiting to get an autograph and hopefully a verbal acknowledgement.
Until then, they watched her every move, somewhat in awe over what they had seen from her on the court and now, up close, where they could study her long mane of hair cascading down her back and those manicured pink nails — “I like to add some razzmatazz,” she’d joke later — still perfect after muscling inside all night against the Bobcat players.
The scene wasn’t lost on Staton, the 6-foot-1 fifth-year player who transferred here this season after playing three years at Merrimack College in Massachusetts.
“I’m just so grateful for all this,” said Staton as some emotion welled up in her voice. “I know it sounds so cliché, but at the end of the day I truly am where I am meant to be right now.”
Coming out of Amherst Steele High School in Lorain, she went to Cleveland State, but found herself, behind veteran players, got in just nine games and in retrospect, now said, “It was just not the right fit for me.”
She entered the transfer portal and ended up at Merrimack, where she was a two-year starter. But except when the Warriors made forays back into this region for games, her family didn’t get to see her play in person.
“The 10-hour drive to Merrimack made it tough for us,” said her dad, T.J. Staton.
After getting her undergrad degree, Staton decided she wanted to play her final year of college basketball somewhere where her parents could be in the stands. Wright State, a three-hour drive from her home, fit the bill.
Sunday night was the first Raiders’ home game her parents attended, she said.
“This is about something bigger than me,” she said. “My parents have been with me the whole ride and I just want to showcase to them everything they have poured into me.”
T.J. was a 10th-round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1993 and spent five years in their minor league organization before joining the Montreal Expos for three more and then spending three years after that in independent baseball.
Four times, the left-handed hitting outfielder made it to AAA ball and would end up playing 869 games in the pros.
“My dad understands the mentality needed when you play sports,” Staton said. “He understands the pressure and frustrations that can come with it, and I’ve had those conversations with him.”
As she thought about her parents, she smiled as she focused on her mom, Saunjula Station, who has been an administrator at Cleveland State and Oberlin College over the years:
“It’s my mom who has given me the fight and the fire I have. She gives me the tenacity to keep going and not ease up. That’s why, when I smell blood out there (on the court), I’ve got to go for it.”
That’s what happened in the first quarter Sunday, when Staton found herself with a size advantage — a rarity because she often gives away two, three and four inches in the post — and quickly realized OU’s players weren’t boxing her out :
“I said to myself, ‘Alright, I’m going to capitalize off their mistakes,’” she said.
She had seven rebounds and six points in the first 10-minute period.
Sunday’s double-double comes on the heels of 12 points and 13 rebounds against Tennessee State and a 15-point, 11-rebound effort at Bellarmine last Thursday.
Staton leads the team in rebounding this season (nine per game) and is second in scoring (11.2 points per game) and is tops in blocked shots.
“She’s playing at a high level now,” said WSU coach Kari Hoffman. “She’s been an absolute force in there, whether it’s from her making a move or grabbing a board. And defensively she can cover a lot for us. She’s always there as a rim protector.
“We’ve been missing that the past couple of years. That’s why we recruited her. We were looking for a specific skill set, and now she’s making a difference day in and day out.”
The fact that she’s able to do it with her family watching had Hoffman echoing Staton’s view:
“I think she’s in the right spot now.”
Sunday night was Staton’s 83 college game and her 49th start. Along the way, she’s lined up against the likes of Notre Dame, Kentucky, Southern Cal and Boston College.
“I think for this team I also bring that older piece,” she said.
“My teammates always joke and call me Grandma or (Aunt) Tee Tee. I’ve been through a lot of experiences and I’m trying to pass it on to them.”
And she said the Wright State coaches are doing the same for her and her teammates:
“I came here because I felt this was a coaching staff that saw you not just for what you brought to the floor, but also for who you were off of it.
“They’re helping people grow as individuals. We’re young women about to go out in the world and they’re helping prepare us for that. That human aspect is so rare to find. I feel like nobody understands that now sometimes. We’re athletes, but we’re people first.”
Staton is getting her master’s degree in sports management.
“I want to stay around the game, and I know I want to continue to grow and experience things, but I’m not sure where I want to end up.”
While her future hasn’t come quite into focus, she knows where she is right now:
“I truly am where I am meant to be.”
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