Heidi Burge Horton, South Bay basketball star who inspired a Disney Channel movie, dies at 54

Heidi Burge Horton, a former WNBA player who started her basketball career alongside her twin sister at Palos Verdes High School and inspired a Disney Channel Original Movie, has died. She was 54. Horton died Oct. 5 after a battle with gliobastoma, a type of brain cancer, according to an online obituary. The former University of Virginia standout was reportedly diagnosed with the Grade 4 cancer last year and briefly went into remission, but the tumors returned in July, according to Houston news site Chron. “We are deeply saddened by the passing of Heidi Burge Horton,” the Virginia women’s basketball team said in a statement last week on X. “Heidi was a cherished member of the Virginia Women’s Basketball family, her legacy will forever be a part of Virginia Athletics.” Horton and her identical twin, Heather Burge, played four seasons at Virginia, where they helped the team win three Atlantic Coast Conference titles and make three NCAA Final Fours under future Hall of Fame coach Debbie Ryan. Among their teammates at college was Dawn Staley, the Hall of Famer and Olympian who coaches the University of South Carolina. “We are all heartbroken!” Staley wrote on X. “We love you Heidi.