Cinzlea Stanton’s day starts at 6 a.m., when she heads to the San Saba High School gym. Stanton and teammate Aliyah Patino convinced Lady Dillo’s head basketball coach, Robert Gray, to open the gym before school.
Eventually, more teammates showed up to the early morning shootaround, which they aptly named “The Breakfast Club.”
The San Saba girls basketball team did not have much in common with the John Hughes cult classic, however, the Lady Dillos' breakfast club did help establish camaraderie for the eventual Class 2A Division I state runners-up.
After breakfast club, Stanton does her clinical work at the San Saba Rehabilitation Center from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., working with the elderly.
Once Stanton finishes clinicals, she goes to school like any other student. Even during school hours, she keeps busy as the student council secretary, taking dual-credit courses and UIL academics.
After school, she is back in the gym, on the golf course or working with the Salvation Army at the local grocery store. By 11 p.m., she ends her day, starting over again the next day.
Stanton jampacks her days from dawn to dusk for one reason.
“I think doing your absolute best in whatever you’re doing in life carries with you,” Stanton said. “And I think my work ethic revolves around that. So, I think that’s why I compete as well as I do because I want to be the best and I want to work as hard as I can in everything I do.”
On the basketball court, the senior led San Saba to a 32-7 record, district championship and state title game appearance while averaging 21 points, 6.2 rebounds, four steals, 3.7 deflections and three assists per game. She was named the district 29-2A Most Valuable Player, earned TABC all-region and all-state honors, was named to the TGCA all-state team and is the 2024-2025 San Angelo Standard-Times All-West Texas girls basketball MVP.
After an outstanding high school basketball career that included two trips to the Alamodome in San Antonio, Stanton is committed to Texas Tech University on an academic scholarship to pursue a Dual Bachelor of Science and BSN Degree in Human Sciences and Nursing.
“(Stanton’s) able to juggle so many things and wants to be great at so many things," Gray said. “She’s a one-of-a-kind athlete that doesn’t come around too often.”
‘Things bigger in life than basketball’
Stanton started playing basketball with the Little Dribblers youth basketball league. She continued with basketball through elementary and middle school, though her middle school career was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite not playing as many games as a typical middle schooler, Stanton said the time spent away from the team helped improve her shooting and fundamentals.
That year also impacted her personal life and future outside of athletics.
Stanton lost both her great-grandparents within a week of each other to COVID-19, and another grandmother also nearly lost her life to the illness. Stanton said she admired how helpful the nurses were to her grandparents and the role they played in helping her family through that time.
“I noticed that the nurses really were there for everyone,” Stanton said. “… I saw that and that’s really what pushed me toward (the medical field).”
As Stanton transitioned to high school, her interests grew outside of basketball as she juggled academics and athletics. But as her role grew, she could not help but feel the added pressure.
A conversation with her grandfather helped change Stanton’s perspective.
“He said, ‘There’s so many things bigger in life than basketball,’ and that stuck with me because (basketball) is a small part of who I am,” Stanton said. “I am competitive, and I want to win, but having that mindset took the pressure off.”
No regrets
Stanton had a breakout junior season for the Lady Dillos in 2023, also Gray's first season as head coach. They finished with a 33-7 record and went to the Class 2A Region 4 final.
“I would say right when I got (to San Saba) I could see her potential,” Gray said.
Gray was not the only person who saw Stanton’s potential. Multiple colleges, most notably Hardin-Simmons University, the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Texas State University took an interest in her ability.
After colleges showed interest, Stanton said she was undecided on her future, and it took her a long time to decide what path to take. She loves basketball — it was what she did all her life, but she felt life started pulling in a different direction.
“I wanted to just start my (nursing) career because I have no regrets on my basketball career — it was really great for me,” Stanton said. “… It wasn’t an easy decision, but I think God’s plan and God’s timing in that decision helped me lean towards Him, and He guided me where I needed to go. And that’s going to Texas Tech.”
Stanton’s busy schedule was designed around her desire to not have regrets after high school, a philosophy her dad, Chris Stanton, instilled within her.
“I told (Cinzlea Stanton) when you look back when you’re 30 years old, are you going to be happy with what you did or will you have regret and things you wish you could have said or done?” Chris Stanton said.
“At the end of the day, whether you win or you lose, you just want to be able to look back and tell yourself that you did everything you could.”
Wanting to be the best drove Cinzlea Stanton to be great, but having no regrets about her basketball career allowed her to step away from the game and the pressures of playing, so she could enjoy playing basketball, knowing she did her best.
“I could tell she had a gratefulness about being (at the state final),” Gray said. “She wanted to win, no doubt about it, but everything leading up to the game, you can just tell she appreciated it… I’m just happy that she got to close out her career being in that game.”
Paul Witwer covers high school sports and Angelo State University sports for The San Angelo Standard-Times. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @Paul_Witwer.