A holdover from last year's outstanding Viking team, Peterson's more than made her mark as a senior leader in 2006!

No one enjoys talking about Allie Peterson more than the girls basketball coach at Miami East, Chad Widener. For the fact of all things right and wrapped in one package, Widener couldn't be happier to quantify the virtues of his senior center.

"First and foremost, she's the best kid you'll ever have the privilege to coach," smiles Widener. "For the fact of her attitude, personality and leadership I don't know where we'd be without her this year...because we're such a young basketball team."

Don't let the article title fool you, the Vikings' Peterson is hardly a leftover in terms of something or someone that didn't previously matter with Widener's program.

The fact is, for the past two seasons there was so much veteran talent at Miami East that Peterson didn't garner much attention playing in the shadow of Danielle Denlinger, Katrina Kirk and Mandy Kulyn. The Lady Vikings won a lot of games during that time, but Peterson's contributions, though solid, were often overlooked.

Returning this season as the team's primary senior starter, the 6' 1" Peterson's 15 points per game and 10 rebounds more than serve notice of her new-found significance.

"It was tough to look forward to...coming back this season without the others," said Peterson before a recent boys game at East. "But I also knew there would be a great opportunity for me to be a senior leader and I wanted that. This is a great group of young players that we have and it's been a great experience for me."

Widener quaifies why her contribution is about more than the sheer fact of her height.

"She's tall and kind of lanky," he smiles. "But...she has a terrific pair of hands and unbelievable footwork as a pivot player. She's very agile and has great balance. She's a tough matchup...even for kids her size."

"Scoring has come easier this year, for sure," says Peterson. "I'm obviously getting a lot more opportunity, but our young guards (Katie Mengos, Katie Denlinger and Katie Motter) have played so well that teams can't just focus on me. I don't mean anything negative about saying this...but there are some things they do better than what we've done in the past."

Widener smiles when he hears such remarks because he says it's in keeping with Peterson's manner of respecting the contributions of others.

"She's such a good team player because she understands the game now...and the importance of those you players...and lets 'em know."

In fact, Peterson acknowledges nearly everyone responsible for her sudden star quality.

"My family...my mom and dad," she says. "My dad coached basketball and helps me with specific details of my game or with things that happen if we have a bad game. He told me all summer that things would be find this year without the others (the graduated seniors from last year) and they have been."

These have not been good times at Miami East for the fact of losing records with other major sports...principally football and boys basketball. And while she empathizes with what her classmates and friends are going through in those sports, Peterson cites their experience as a motivation for herself and her teammates.

"We're aware," she says. "And we feel badly for what they're going through. On the other hand, we're also proud that we can continue to win without going through that. We all know that it will turn around for them someday."

As good as things have gone for Peterson and the Lady Vikings this season (11-3 as of this writing), it's only natural that we ask if after the fact she's happy for all that talent from previous years having graduated.

"I wasn't happy to see them leave, because they were friends and teammates...and I miss them," she admits. "But, I'm also happy to be the senior leader of this basketball team. This is a good group, and I know there were people who were surprised that we went out of the tournament so early in past years...that we should have won more and gone farther...but I think we'll surprise some people this year."

The dictionary will tell you that a "leftover" is an unused portion or an insignificant amount of something bigger. No one's buying that at East...not where Allie Peterson's concerned. She's hardly a leftover by Chad Widener's definition...she's just been left behind!

The FanFile

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