Heidi Burge Horton, a women’s basketball star at the University of Virginia who, with her twin sister, inspired the Disney Channel movie “Double Teamed,” died on Oct. 5. She was 54.
Horton’s death was originally reported by Jerry Ratcliffe, a longtime journalist covering University of Virginia athletics, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. She was diagnosed with Grade 4 brain cancer in October 2025. After going into remission, her tumors returned in July, the newspaper reported.
Horton’s death was also confirmed on the Eikenhorst Funeral Services website in Conroe, Texas.
In a social media post, the Virginia women’s basketball program said it was “deeply saddened” to learn of Horton’s passing.
“Heidi was a cherished member of the Virginia Women’s Basketball family,” the program wrote. “Her legacy will forever be a part of Virginia Athletics.”
Horton averaged 8.9 points and 6.4 points per game during her four seasons at Virginia, according to Bleacher Report. She was on Cavaliers squads that reached the Final Four three times between 1990 and 1992 and finished as runner-up to Tennessee, the sports news website reported.
The lives of Horton and her twin sister, Heather, were the models for the Disney Channel 2002 television movie “Double Teamed,” according to IMDb.com. The film chronicled the sisters’ time at Palos Verdes High School in Southern California, according to Bleacher Report.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who was Horton’s teammate at Virginia, posted her condolences on X.
“May your soul rest in peace and your body pain free. #wahooforlife,” Staley wrote.
Florida coach Tammi Reiss, who was another teammate of Horton’s at Virginia, wrote on social media that “My road roomie gave me so many memories.”
“My heart is broken,” Reiss tweeted.
Heidi Ann Horton was born in Los Angeles on Nov. 12, 1971, according to her obituary. Heidi was 6-foot-1 as a ninth grader, according to the Chronicle. In 2024, Horton told The Buzz Magazines, a Houston lifestyle magazine, that the Palos Verdes High School coach stopped the siblings in the hallway of the school.
“‘Oh my gosh, how tall are you?’” Horton recalled the coach asking her, encouraging her to go out for the basketball team. “Heather came running home, excited, and I was just like, ‘Nah.’ I had already signed up to play volleyball.”
Horton did sign up for basketball and helped the Sea Kings win a championship, according to the newspaper.
After college, the sisters played overseas to play basketball in Europe, the Chronicle reported. She came back stateside to play in the WNBA when it formed in the late 1990s, competing with the Los Angeles Sparks during the league’s inaugural season in 1997, according to Bleacher Report. She was drafted by the Washington Mystics in the 1998 WNBA expansion draft, but back injuries derailed her career.
Horton later moved to the Houston area and founded Hoops School to coach youth basketball, the Chronicle reported.