One of the incoming players for Stanford women’s basketball’s 2024 class is 4-star forward Harper Peterson out of Whitney High School in Rocklin, California. Peterson caught up with CardinalSportsReport.com about her commitment to Stanford and what she’s most looking forward to about being on The Farm.
Playing at Stanford is truly the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for Peterson. While she originally wanted to play soccer in college, Stanford was always the dream school. Upon getting to know the coaches, she knew for certain that Stanford is where she wanted to be.
“It was one of my biggest goals since I was younger,” Peterson said of attending Stanford. “I used to want to play soccer in college, but I wanted to play at Stanford. But when middle school hit, I decided to play basketball and Stanford was still my goal and dream. And I just really connected with the coaches, I saw their view, and like their vision that they had and I think it really fit to my vision and my goals for my college career that I wanted to pursue. So, it’s the main reason why I chose Stanford.”
Looking ahead to being a student-athlete at Stanford, Peterson is looking forward to being a part of a sisterhood and just the experience that comes with that. She’s excited to play her part on a winning team and continue on the legacy and tradition that the program has established.
“Definitely the experience. It’s like a sisterhood coming here,” Peterson said of what she’s most looking forward to. “You can already tell the players, their connection on and off the court, and just being a part of that. And also just being a part of a school that is known for winning national championships. I think that’s the biggest goal in the end, so I think the people we have coming in, like the recruits that we’re trying to recruit for the 2025 class, we can see a big, the biggest goal is to win a national championship and I think we’re set with what we have.”
On top of that, Peterson knows that attending Stanford can set her up with lifelong connections that she couldn’t get anywhere else. She’s excited to meet her future classmates and fully immerse herself in the entire Stanford community.
“Yeah, I mean definitely the connections that you can make through this Stanford community,” Peterson added. “You can see all the big successful people that have come out of Stanford and how they’ve impacted the world in many different ways. So I mean, just knowing that and also the great people you’ll meet and you never know who your roommate is gonna be. Like, the next person to walk on the moon could be your roommate. You don’t really know. Everyone’s really successful and has the same goals academically of succeeding high.”
On head coach Tara VanDerveer, Peterson is pumped to get the chance to grow under her and be around someone who has such an elite understanding of the game and is also a great all-around person.
“She’s a great person,” Peterson said of VanDerveer. “I love my parents can connect with coaches right away, too. That was a big thing in my recruiting process was how well my parents would connect with the coach and if they reached out to my parents.
“So, I think building that bond right away was like the biggest thing. And just her knowledge and like her IQ and everything that she has. She knows what her players can and can’t do and she’ll show their strengths and work on your weaknesses.”
Something that will help Peterson adjust to Stanford is her relationship with redshirt sophomore guard Jzaniya Harriel. They’re both from the Sacramento area and have gotten to know each other as a result.
“Me and Jzaniya are both from Antelope (California),” Peterson said. “We’re both from the same town. We’ve always talked about everything that’s going on at home and being able to connect through that and like our reasons why of being so close to home and really just building that bond for that.”
As far as what she wants to study at Stanford, Peterson is hoping to study sports psychology. She feels like that will serve her well both as an athlete and also as a coach, which is a goal of hers once her playing days are over.
“Yeah, sports psychology was like the biggest thing for me and then also I want to coach in the end,” Peterson said of what she wants to study. “So I think doing the psychology part of it and just like how the mental processes of student athletes and all the stuff that they go through and how I can deal with that with coaching.”
What Stanford most likes about Peterson is her length and versatility. She can play both as a wing or as a stretch forward and is comfortable doing whatever is asked of her. That should help her see the floor immediately.
“Definitely my length and being versatile,” Peterson said of her strengths. “Playing like your three or stretch four. And having to, like I’ll still be able to shoot the three but also post up and be in the high post and just really work with their offense really well. And just stretch out, I mean the length at the four or the three. Just a lot harder to guard.”
Regarding what she’s most working on, Peterson is working on getting stronger so that she can better adjust to the next level and also avoid injuries. She wants to be in the best shape she can be in so that she can reach her maximum potential.
“The biggest thing is definitely strength,” Peterson said of what she’s most working on. “Getting in the weight room. Putting on some more strength basically and then working on being more flexible so like prone to injuries. Because I don’t want to have injuries stop or affect my senior year or hold back me from playing freshman year. So those are the biggest things.”
One thing that will be unique for Peterson is being part of the first Stanford class to only know life in the ACC. She grew up watching the Pac-12 and is bummed that she won’t be able to play in the conference. At the same time, she’s also excited for what the future holds in the ACC and being part of a new era of Stanford athletics. She knows the ACC has great competition.
“I think it’s honestly going to be good,” Peterson said of the move to the ACC. “Pac-12 has been pretty historic, too. And I think we have the most that make it to the March Madness every year. But, definitely moving to the ACC, I think it’s going to be good for everybody. Just like a spotlight for NIL and also playing like great teams like Duke and Florida State and getting to play against big schools that are known, too. It’ll be great competition and great development for everyone.”
Overall, Harper Peterson is thrilled to be joining the Stanford women’s basketball program. It’ll be fun to see what kind of impact she makes as a freshman and what she’ll bring to the Stanford community at large.
CardinalSportsReport.com on Facebook & X (Twitter): @StanfordRivals
Ben Parker on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, & X (Twitter): @slamdunk406
Email: slamdunk406@yahoo.com
