Adding another Wilson to the roster…Stacia Wilson becomes third sister to join Milligan Lady Buff basketball
Published 8:24 am Friday, May 3, 2019
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Stacia Wilson is surrounded by teammates, friends, and coaches as she celebrates signing with the Milligan Lady Buffs basketball team.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cloudland’s Stacia Wilson is all smiles after signing her National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Milligan College for the next four years.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Former Lady Highlander Stacia Wilson and Coach Mike Lunsford share a smile during Wilson’s signing to play basketball at Milligan College.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Cloudland’s Stacia Wilson signed her National Letter of Intent to play basketball at Milligan College for the next four years. Wilson was joined at the signing by her mother, Lisa, and her father, Chris. Also joining Wilson was back (L-R) Milligan assistant coach Jeff Bourn, Milligan assistant coach Kylie Russell, Milligan head coach Rich Aubrey, Cloudland basketball head coach Mike Lunsford, and Cloudland assistant coach Nathan Hicks.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Stacia Wilson with her parents Chris and Lisa Wilson. Wilson will be following in the footsteps of her father and her twin sisters, Courtney and Madison, who all played basketball at Milligan College.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Stacia Wilson is joined for her special day by her former teammates at Cloudland High School.
ROAN MOUNTAIN— as long as there are Wilson girls playing basketball at Cloudland High School, don’t expect Milligan College Lady Buff basketball coach Rich Aubrey to quit recruiting them to come to Milligan College and join his team.
On Wednesday in the Cloudland High School library, Aubrey added another one to his roster as Stacia Wilson put pen to paper signing a National Letter of Intent to play for Aubrey who just finished coaching her twin sisters, Courtney and Madison.
Wilson was joined by her parents, high school coaches, teammates, and friends as she completed the final step as a high school student in becoming a Lady Buff.
“We really love the versatility of Stacia’s game,” Aubrey said of his pickup of the former Lady Highlander. “When she has the right matchup, she can go in the post and play with her back to the basket.
“If she has a different matchup where quickness is to her advantage, she can go out to the wing and catch the ball and face up and play that way.
“We think that is going to develop even further in college,” Aubrey continued. “I think that she has a lot of upsides and I think in some ways that her best basketball is ahead of her.”
Aubrey was asked if having her two sisters play in front of her at Milligan will be an advantage for Stacia as she starts her college career.
“It was really nice on her visit,” Aubrey added. “I felt a comfort level with her and I think that she felt a comfort level with us because of our connection so I hope that does give us a head start.
“But I also think it’s important for her to know that she has the opportunity to forge her own identity, to make her own contributions, and to be her own person and her own player.
“She seems really comfortable and looking to the opportunity to do that. I think it’s going to be a really great thing.”
Wilson said that being around the team while her sisters played has made it a little more comfortable in her transition to the college level because she knows what to expect when she exchanges her Lady Highlander blue and gold jersey for an orange and black Milligan College jersey.
“I have practiced with them and I have scrimmaged with them some and I am used to the campus because my sisters and I went over there a lot,” said Stacia on her commitment to Milligan. “Some of the players I am still getting to know their names because I am so bad with names.
“They are all good people and I love it. I am glad that I can play basketball at Milligan and continue playing.”
While Wilson and her teammates didn’t make it to the level that she was hoping for her senior year at Cloudland, Wilson is looking forward to helping the Lady Buffs get back to the national championship.
“We didn’t get as far as I hoped this year and that just made me want to go even further,” Wilson stated. “Milligan goes to the nationals and I would love to go to nationals with them. I haven’t even been to state.”
With her faith deeply rooted in God, Wilson hopes that she can bring the right message with her to Milligan and help those she comes in contact with.
“I am going to try to take my respect and kindness and spread it,” Wilson said of what she is hoping to transfer as a Lady Buff. “I want to treat others like I want to be treated. I want to try to be as successful in college as much as I can.
“Just going to put my faith in God and try to get my degree.”
Wilson said she would focus her studies on either Biology or Chemistry and transpose that degree into a career in forensics and become a CSI.
Noting that it was a dream, Wilson went on to add that it was a big stretch, but she was very hopeful of being able to fulfill that dream. She excels in science and math.
Former high school coach Mike Lunsford said that Milligan and Coach Aubrey is getting more than a basketball player.
“More than anything he is going to get a quality person, a good kid, a good Christian girl,” said Lunsford of Wilson. “She is going to give a good effort and do what he (Coach Aubrey) says to do. She is going to strive to make her coach happy. She is just a joy to coach.
“She comes from a good family and he (Aubrey) knows the family. She is a super athlete who can use her right hand or her left hand. She hit a three-pointer with her left hand in a clutch for us this year. She has developed a lot.”
When Lunsford looked back, he said it was easy to see how far Wilson came from the first time she went on the court as an eighth grader.
“She was raw coming in as an eighth grader when I first started to help her a little and she developed into a very good player,” stated Lunsford. “In my opinion, I thought she was as good as anybody in this league.
“She leads by example. We had three seniors who were leaders of the team. I would take her out during practice and she would be begging me to get back in.”
Lunsford took time to share a funny story about Wilson and how he coaxed her into shooting with her left hand.
“She was in the eighth grade and I was watching and helping out a little bit when I had free time and she would make a move in practice and she would finish with that left hand and she looked so natural at it,” stated Lunsford.
“She would never shoot with her left hand, however. So, I told her that if she would take a left-handed shot and make it, I would buy her a hamburger. I think I ended up buying her three or four because she would take them and make them.
“By the time she finished her high school career, she was a left-handed dominant player,” Lunsford continued. “She really did a good job. She was tough to guard.”
Wilson’s father, Chris, was also a Milligan College basketball player for two years before leaving with Coach Phil Worrell to go to ETSU and finish his college career.
