Pick to Click

Timeouts are a little more quiet for the UC Irvine women’s basketball team this season. That clicking sound is gone.

When point guard Megan Stafford would join the huddle, she would start tapping her tongue stud on her teeth. It wasn’t annoying, just a bit distracting.

This was merely Stafford expressing her eclectic personality. But no more.

In fact, the only thing clicking for Stafford these days is her play on the court.

Even without sound effects--she recently had the stud removed--Stafford has bolted from the gate, scoring 20 points in a loss to Arizona State and 19 in a victory over Northern Arizona last weekend.

Her performances have not been surprising.

Stafford, a senior, has excelled the last three seasons as the Anteaters’ point guard. She already had set the school career record for assists and ranked ninth in scoring before the season began.

Her talent was undeniable from the start. As a freshman, her 30-point game against New Mexico State in the Big West Conference tournament made that clear.

Still, mixed with her brilliant play were reasons for concern. She suffered a stress fracture in her foot, which slowed her as a sophomore, and she was suspended the first four games last season for violating team rules. Then there were her body piercings and her personality. No wonder Coach Mark Adams called Stafford the “first hippie we recruited.”

Those salad days have been tossed, apparently.

“I always thought I was a mellow person,” Stafford said. “Obviously people change in four years. I don’t know that I’ve changed that much. Maybe I’m more aware of how I act in certain situations.”

And the tongue stud?

“I found out candy tastes better without it in there. Ice cream too.”

It sounded as if Stafford had joined the establishment when she was named team captain this season. But that free spirit seems to be lurking.

“Megan hasn’t changed,” said center Chelsea Mackey, her roommate. “She’s just gotten better.”

The 5-foot-8 Stafford has matured, which is partly a product of urgency. This is her last season and there is still much left to do.

The Anteaters have faded since her freshman season, when they finished 16-13 and reached the conference tournament championship game.

Irvine was 16-11 in 1997-98 and Stafford was named second-team all-conference. But her foot bothered her considerably and contributed to the Anteaters’ first-round exit from the conference tournament.

Last season, Stafford and Mackey were suspended and the Anteaters never seemed to recover. They finished 11-16 and again were eliminated in the tournament’s first round.

“During the time the stuff was happening, it obviously had an effect on me,” Stafford said. “I can’t really change what happened. I can’t let it loom in the back of my mind and be terribly grief-stricken. It would have been nice if those things wouldn’t have happened. It was good for my character.

“I’m not thinking about the past now or the future. I’m trying to get through this last year and focus on this year.”

Stafford needs no extra motivation to play at a high level, but a little nudge can prove dangerous to Anteater opponents.

Her 30-point game against New Mexico State was a response, in some ways, to being left off the Big West all-freshman team.

“I heard the New Mexico State coach said I wasn’t that good,” Stafford said. “Having some sort of instigation by someone on the other team does help. I try to come out and play like that every game, but it’s always nice to have something that makes you play better.”

In three seasons, she has scored 1,002 points, becoming only the 10th UC Irvine player to top the 1,000 plateau.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a kid play as hard as Megan,” said Adams, in his third season as Irvine’s coach. “She was the best player in the game the other night against Arizona State, on both sides. I’m only now getting to know her and what she thinks of herself. She has never lacked abilities.”

That was apparent from the start.

As a freshman, she averaged 14 points and six assists in helping push the Anteaters to the conference tournament title game. She set a school record with 15 assists against Cal State Fullerton and finished with 156 assists for the season, which she upped to 161 last season.

She was 12th nationally in assists last season.

“You always know that when the ball is in Megan’s hands, everything is going to be OK,” forward Kirsten Cappel said. “She’s going to score or make a pass, and we’re going to do well.

“I think she has always been really intense. But that has increased this year.”

Stafford has raised expectations. She also raised a few eyebrows from the moment she hit campus.

She would sometimes skateboard to practice instead of walking, which allowed her to get a little more sleep. She wore a hemp necklace and had a barbell-shaped stud pierced through the skin above her eye, later followed by the tongue stud.

None of it affected her play. It just made a nice conversation piece . . . for others.

Her injured left foot still bothers her. Her suspension last season still stings.

The other stuff? Not her problem.

“It’s not like those things define who I am as a person,” Stafford said. “When you’re young, you try out different things. I wouldn’t want to get something pierced on my body as an adult.”

Or even now.

“All that’s gone,” Adams said. “It’s another sign to me. She is maturing, like every kid who goes through the college experience.

“She’s very focused. She doesn’t have a lot of the distractions. She wants to take this team as far as she can and wants everybody to get on the train and go with her.”