Despite coming up just shy of a win against rival Wetumpka on Friday night, Stanhope Elmore’s girls basketball team showed flashes of competitiveness in a 49-35 loss.
Aniya Burton, a junior, was the standout for the Mustangs. She has been playing quality minutes for Stanhope and did more of the same Friday night.
“I felt like Aniya Burton was awesome for us, and she's the energy bunny,” Stanhope coach Kelvin Stokes said. “I have to try to slow her down a little bit, just so she won't stay in foul trouble, but she feels like she can get every steal and she feels like she can make all the plays. With that level of just intensity, she provides a lot for us, and so she's one of the ones that really comes to put her hard hat on every night to play.”
Burton plays alongside the Crosby sisters in a system where Burton serves as the spark plug on both ends of the floor. Burton is averaging eight points and six steals per game. Her tenacity on defense usually leads to points off turnovers.
Despite having played a fundamentally sound game, the Mustangs found themselves in the deficit due to an efficient Wetumpka performance.
“I just feel like we played quite decently on defense,” Stoke said. “They just hit a lot of contested shots, so I feel like we'll be ready that third time. Hopefully we get to play them again for the area championship, and hopefully we can go and play versus Percy Julian and do our part on that.”
