Bolliger, Peacock are lone seniors on Prairie’s girls basketball team
Stardom? That is for others.
Michelle Bolliger and Taylor Peacock do not need to score all the points, nor do they need to grab every rebound, in order to be successful with the Prairie girls basketball team.
All they need to do is to provide wisdom to their younger teammates, to give them leadership for today, to give them something to emulate in the future.
That is just as important as any number in a box score.
You see, every “next wave” of Prairie talent should listen to the experienced players, the ones who have been in the program for years. The next wave needs to know what it’s like to endure the long practices, to accept the critiques from a driven coach.
This year, Michelle Bolliger and Taylor Peacock are the ones to look up to, the only seniors in the most successful girls basketball program in the state.
“Originally, there were 13 of us our freshmen year,” Bolliger said.
“I always thought, ‘Who was going to be the starter for Senior Night? Who was going to sit?’” Peacock recalled.
They don’t have to worry about that now.
Bolliger, a starter this year, and Peacock, a key reserve, will be rightfully honored on Senior Night. Not because they are stars, but because they have endured, even without the spotlight.
They epitomize what every successful team needs, players committed for the long haul with no promise of individual glory.
All programs have turnover. All high school basketball teams have a whittling down process from freshman to senior years. But Peacock and Bolliger never expected to be the only two remaining from the Class of 2010.
“People move on from the sport. Some started focusing on other things,” Bolliger said. “You discover who really likes the game, that’s for sure.”
Peacock grew up playing youth basketball, all the time understanding the significance of Prairie girls basketball. She remembers looking up to the seniors of the past, who have helped the Falcons earn a trophy at the state tournament for 12 consecutive seasons.
“I wanted to be just like them,” Peacock said. “I wanted to set those goals and be great like them. I wanted to stick it out and get there.”
Interestingly, Bolliger knew nothing of Prairie’s mystique when she enrolled at the high school as a freshman. Attending private school up until her ninth-grade year and not playing youth basketball, the all-around athlete decided to try out for the Falcons.
“My parents even told me I wouldn’t make the team,” she says now, with a laugh. “‘Don’t get your hopes up.’”
Peacock smiled when thinking back to that first week.
“Michelle asked so many questions,” Peacock said.
“I still get called ‘21 Questions.’ I didn’t know anything about basketball,” Bolliger said.
But at the start of her junior year, after a successful summer ball campaign, Bolliger realized the possibility of playing small college basketball. If she could get through four years of basketball under coach Al Aldridge, she figured there would get an opportunity somewhere.
“I wanted to see the potential I could be at,” said Bolliger, a 3.99 student. “That’s what kept me going.”
Now, Bolliger and Peacock are hoping to lead Prairie to another league title, another district title, another berth to the state tournament, and, hopefully, another trophy from state.
Oh, and keep that little local win streak.
After Tuesday’s win over Columbia River, the Falcons have won 117 consecutive league games, 131 including district tournament games. Prairie is closing in on 10 years of perfection in Southwest Washington. The last time the team lost to a Clark County team was Jan. 31, 2000, an overtime loss against Battle Ground.
“There’s a lot of pressure behind it,” Bolliger said. “You never want to be on the team that loses.”
“You don’t want to be remembered for that,” Peacock added.
There are benefits, too.
“You feel honored to have so much history behind you and knowing I was a part of that,” Peacock said.
“I think it pumps us up at the same time,” Bolliger said. “We gotta keep it going.”
Former players send text messages to current players the day of big games, to remind them of the streak. As if they did not know.
“What if that happened?” Peacock asks, referring to losing the streak.
“I wouldn’t want to be in the gym the next day in practice,” Bolliger answers.
Win or lose under Aldrige, practice is hard work. It is the job of Bolliger and Peacock to make sure the younger players understand that to be the best, they must earn it with hours in the gym, and they must hear about their miscues in order to improve.
Peacock remembers what it was like as a freshman. She said she was intimidated but felt relieved when an older player gave her a word of encouragement. Now she and Bolliger are playing the roles of big sisters.
“Our freshmen ask a lot of questions,” Peacock said. “They know it, but they want someone older …”
“… to reassure them,” Bolliger said, finishing Peacock’s thought.
They make for quite a tandem, Michelle Bolliger and Taylor Peacock. They understand what it takes because they have been there, together for years.
