The 6-foot-1 fifth-year player yanked down 27 rebounds while scoring a game-high 17 points. She set the Wright State and league tourney rebound record, and she out-boarded the Penguins by herself (they had 26).
She tied the all-time league mark set by Detroit Mercy’s Cheryl Day in 1990.
“Oh my goodness, it just sounds surreal,” Staton said with a wide smile. “I didn’t even know how many I had. I knew I just had to go get rebounds.
“That’s one thing we talked about — finishing plays and being consistent with it. I was like, ‘All right, let me go get as many boards as I can.’ I didn’t realize it was 27.”
The previous program record was 25 by Margie Coate against Ohio Wesleyan in 1975.
“It’s unbelievable what she just did,” fourth-year coach Kari Hoffman said. “I challenged our team before the game, ‘You need to have a mentality of refusing to lose.’ And I believe that’s what that (stat) line from Amaya says, as well as many of our other players.
“That’s incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The eighth-seeded Raiders (10-21) went 3-0 this season against the ninth-seeded Penguins (12-19) and won a league tourney game for the second straight year.
They’ll face second-seeded Purdue Fort Wayne on the road in the quarterfinals at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Lauren Scott hit a jumper just before the first-quarter buzzer, giving the Raiders a 17-13 edge.
They scored the first 11 points of the second quarter for a commanding 28-13 lead.
The Penguins whittled it down to eight, but the Raiders went on a 12-0 run in the final 3:38 of the half, taking a 44-28 lead into the locker room.
They never led by less than eight the rest of the way and put a dent in the adage that it’s hard to beat a team three times.
About that oft-repeated sentiment …
“I said, ‘Screw that. Don’t listen to that. It’s not hard to beat a team three times. Let’s go make it happen,’” Hoffman said.
“That’s what these guys did. They had the right mentality. I think you could see that right from the jump. They were focused, they were determined.”
Staton, a third-team all-league pick, had 15 rebounds, one off her previous career high, in the first half. She posted her ninth-straight double-double.
She was averaging a league-high 8.8 rebounds.
The Raiders went 10 of 23 on 3′s and 11 of 13 on foul shots. Lauren Scott had 12 points and Olivia Brown 10.
After their first-round win last season, they lost to No. 1 seed Cleveland State in the quarterfinals, 83-50.
Staton knows a toughie is waiting for them in the quarterfinals, but she’s undaunted,
“We’re going in with confidence, and we trust our ability. We know it’s going to be a challenge, but we can’t look down on ourselves,” she said.
“We can relish this win, but that’s not it. We have another game in less than 48 hours, and we have to keep it going,” Staton said.
THURSDAY’S GAME
Horizon League Quarterfinals
Wright State at Purdue Fort Wayne, 7 p.m., ESPN+
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