State champions last year, Heritage hasn’t had an ideal start to its season, winning just half of its first ten games. The Pride are still capable of winning it all again in March, though–in no small part because they have the Stanford Sisters.
On Wednesday night on the road, Heritage got 75% of its scoring output from senior Alyssa and junior Keira as the Pride defeated Loudoun Valley 40-37. The win gave the Pride the early upper hand in the much-improved Dulles District.
“I think we started slower,” said Alyssa Stanford when asked where she viewed the team is as a whole compared to last year. “Just building back that chemistry–we lost a lot last year. Just building back that chemistry with different players is going to take time.”
Heritage did anything but start slow against #17 Loudoun Valley. The Pride jumped to an 11-2 early lead, with Alyssa finding Keira on cuts to the basket on a few occasions. Alyssa had four first half assists and Keira 13 first half points.
“It helps that we play basketball with each other a lot,” said Keira of her chemistry on the court with her sister. “We’re always at practice working hard moving the ball together, trying to get better at that chemistry.”
“A lot of seniors left last year. I had to step up, Alyssa had to step up.”
Despite the Stanford sisters stepping up to score 21 points between them in the first half, the Vikings battled back to only trail 24-22 at halftime. The Pride (2-0, 6-5) then responded in the second half with team defense. In the third quarter they held Valley to 1-12 shooting from the field and led 36-27 going into the fourth.
Valley again rallied. Senior forward Maggie Mills made a driving layup and then followed a teammate’s miss on the offensive boards to cut the lead to 37-33. Heritage’s counter was–once again–Alyssa Stanford finding her sister open for a bucket to make it 39-33. Ultimately Loudoun Valley did get a look at the buzzer to tie the game, but Alyssa Tribino’s quick-release attempt was off.
Keira Stanford finished with 18 points for the #19 Pride. Alyssa Stanford had a typical great all-around game with 14 rebounds and seven assists to go with her 12 points.
Mills led Loudoun Valley (1-1, 7-3) with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Four missed free throws down the stretch and going 5-15 from the line overall hurt the Vikings, who will get another crack at Heritage on February 17th.
–Chris Jollay