Columbia High School senior Talia Baptiste, fifth from left, celebrates with her teammates after scoring her 1,000th career point.
MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — Senior Talia Baptiste scored 21 points, freshman Mayla Defreitas had 11 points and senior Jaime Levi and junior Julia Hartley each had 10 points to lead the Columbia High School girls basketball team to a 63-24 win at West Caldwell Tech on Monday, Feb. 12, in a Super Essex Conference crossover divisional game.
Baptiste also had 6 rebounds, four assists and three steals and Hartley had eight rebounds, five assists and six steals, as the Cougars won their third straight game.
Three days later, the Cougars lost at Bernards, 49-47. Baptiste had 27 points, including the 1,000th point of her career. She also had five rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocked shots. Freshman Gabi Ervin had 12 points with six rebounds; Levi had 5 points with three rebounds, two assists and two steals; and Defreitas had 3 points. Junior Campbell Connell had 7 rebounds and five steals, sophomore Anabel MacGuire had 5 rebounds and four steals and sophomore Annabelle Nelson had three rebounds for Columbia.
The 12th-seeded Cougars lost at No. 5 seed Union City, 67-33, on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s North Jersey, Section 1, Group 4 state tournament. Levi had 14 points; Baptiste had 6 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals; Connell had 5 points; Nelson and senior Arleth Sanchez each had 2 points; and freshman JoJo Yarde had four rebounds for the Cougars, who finished with season with a 10-16 overall record. Baptiste finished with 1,023 career points.
Photo Courtesy of Columbia High School Athletics
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to include the result of the state tournament and the team’s final record for the season.
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