Heritage wins playoff game on road in girls basketball

Lauren Pagtakhan scored 29 points, Sierra Maxwell scored 24 and Aaliyah Benavidez added 11 Wednesday night to lead the Heritage High girls basketball team to a 77-52 victory at Bishop Diego High in the second round of the CIF Division 4AA playoffs.

After a close first half in which the Patriots entered the break leading by just seven points, they silenced the home crowd in Santa Barbara with a dominant second half. Balanced scoring and a stifling defense turned the game into a rout and improved Heritage’s record to 21-4.

The Patriots’ best season ever will continue Saturday night when they play host to Pilibos High of Los Angeles in the quarterfinals.

“I felt we could’ve done a lot better in the first half,” said coach Deanna Meijer. “Fortunately, we came out strong in the third quarter. They only had one post player, and she really played outside, so our guards had to do a lot of work.”

After going 0-7 in playoff games in the program’s history, Heritage has now won two postseason games in a row.

Photo caption: Sierra Maxwell, shown here in the previous game, had another big night on Wednesday. (Photo by Kristi Jo Photography)