This year’s Columbia Raiders girls basketball team has high aspirations after last season’s 16-8 finish. Columbia has a deep bench of up to 10 girls that could see big minutes this season.
“We’re going to be a very solid team,” Columbia coach Corey Taylor said. “I have a lot of faith in our girls and the way that we can get up and down the floor and create tempo. We have a deep group of 10 girls that can play, I’m really excited to see what we have.”
Leading the charge will be junior point guard Elise Champagne. Last season as a sophomore, Champagne earned First Team All-Conference, All-Lorain County and Northeast Lakes District honors.
“Elise is a phenomenal player, but the thing that is key with Elise is that she gets her teammates involved,” Taylor said.
Two teammates that will need to get involved for the Raiders are seniors Mallory Hottell and Emily Beck. The two veterans do it all for Columbia, and they returned a combined 12.7 points per game in conference play. Primarily, they’ll be down low catching passes from Champagne.
“I have my two seniors that are great and I rely a lot on,” Taylor said. “Mallory and Emily, they’re going to set the tone for us, they get out and run, they finish around the basket.”
Other main contributors will be Rachel Washburn, especially on the defensive end, and Payton Menge with her three-point shooting ability. That completes the Columbia starting line-up.
Trying to get things clicking on all cylinders early, the Raiders participated in the Lorain County Preview, and faced off with the host Titans. After 14 minutes of basketball, the two teams tied 9-9. Columbia doesn’t mind playing fast, but facing Lorain gave the Raiders a challenge in the speed of the game.
“I think that was a great matchup for us in the preseason to see a different pace of a game,” Taylor said. “Our girls responded all right, and that’s what we were expecting out of this matchup. We were able to get up and down with them, and that’s good because we’re trying to get our legs underneath us.”
With high hopes, Taylor hopes to compete in every game this season. After falling short against Loudonville in the postseason, the Raiders are trying to keep their season going into March.
“We want to be able to compete in every game, we want to make sure that we compete in the conference and we want to compete come tournament time,” Taylor said. “That’s definitely a goal that we’ve set with our team, because we want to make sure we’re competing every night.”
Columbia starts the season on Nov. 18 on the road at Normandy.
