Tuesday, August 24, 2021
BELLINGHAM, Wash. – Former Western Washington University women’s basketball All-American Taylor Peacocke has signed a professional contract to play for S.L. Benfica in Portugal.
Peacocke, originally from Inglemoor High School in Kenmore, played four seasons with WWU, starting 103 of her 119 career appearances. She joined the Vikings for the 2013-14 season after transferring from Sacramento State University.
S.L. Benfica is a professional sports club based in Lisbon, Portugal. Peacocke will join the club’s top women’s basketball team, who are coming off their first-ever championship titles in both the Portuguese League and Portuguese Cup.
Peacocke was one of only three NCAA Division II players to attend the Women’s Pro Combine and Free Agent camp in April 2017 but declined offers to play overseas at the time.
“I’m most excited about the same thoughts I had at that pro combine,” Peacocke said. “Where do I measure up with all these professional players, and just really having a second chance to play again in general.”
During her career, the crafty 5-foot-9 guard became one of the most prolific scorers WWU and the Great Northwest Athletic Conference has ever seen. Her final season with Western was in 2016-17 when she put together one of the greatest campaigns of any athlete in program history.
That year she led her team to a 26-6 overall record and put together the fourth-longest winning streak (17) in the all-time WWU record books. Her 41-point performance versus Simon Fraser University on Jan. 17, 2017, remains the second-most in a game by any Western player.
Peacocke’s accolades stretched beyond WWU and the GNAC, as she was named a First-Team All-American by the Division II Bulletin and WBCA following the season. She was the leading scorer in all of NCAA Division II, averaging 23.3 points across 32 games, in addition to setting a WWU single-season points record with 745.
She accumulated the second-most career points in WWU history with 1,940 and is the GNAC’s all-time scoring leader in conference games with 1,244. Her career averages include 16.3 points (second all-time), 3.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
Following her playing career, Peacocke returned to Western as a graduate assistant for the team’s 2017-18 season. She then spent one season at Western New Mexico University as an assistant coach before assuming a similar position at her high school alma mater, Inglemoor High school, in 2019.
Peacocke was diagnosed with cancer in October 2019, putting her life on pause for nearly five months. She has now been in remission since Feb. 29, 2020, and began training right away with hopes of beginning a professional playing career.
“Even after coaching it’s hard to come back to playing again, never mind going through cancer,” said WWU head women’s basketball coach Carmen Dolfo. “I have so much respect for Taylor. She’s an amazing person and I think she’s such a role model for my team.”
The soon-to-be pro continued coaching at Western and Inglemoor during the 2020-21 season while she has been preparing to join her new team.