Girls basketball: Derkack reaches rare milestone in Colonia’s state tournament victory

WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP – Long inspired by seeing her father’s name on a blue and white 1,000-point club banner on the wall inside Colonia High School’s gymnasium, Taylor Derkack hopes she will provide the same for future girls basketball players.

Another chapter – perhaps the grandest performance – of The Taylor Era in the history of Colonia girls basketball program was etched in the history books Thursday night, when Derkack scored her 2,000th career point in a 53-14 victory over Belleville in the opening round of the North 2 Group 3 Tournament.

Entering the 99th game of her varsity career nine points away from two grand, Derkack sank a free throw with 1:26 left in the first quarter to reach a rare scoring milestone in high school basketball. The game was stopped and Derkack celebrated the accomplishment with her teammates and coaches, who surrounded a banner made for the occasion and gold “2K” balloons.

“I’ve always wanted to inspire little girls,” said Derkack, whose parents, and brother, Aiden, a Colonia sophomore, also joined her on the court. “I hope they look at my banner when it goes up and think they can do big things and want to beat my record.”

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Derkack’s father, Gene, a 1995 Colonia graduate, scored 1,134 points. Her brother Aiden has scored more than 800 points.

Taylor Derkack finished with 19 points for the game and 2,010 for her career. She added 11 rebounds, five steals and three assists as second-seeded Colonia notched the victory in its first game since falling to St. Thomas Aquinas in the GMC Tournament final last Friday.

Derkack is believed to be the ninth female basketball player from Middlesex County to score more than 2,000 points in her high school career -- just the second this century and the first in the GMC since 2014, when Cassie Smith of Metuchen accomplished the feat. She’s the first female basketball player from Woodbridge Township, which includes Colonia, J.F. Kennedy and Woodbridge high schools, to reach the milestone.

Only one girl playing high school basketball in the state of New Jersey during the state tournament has scored more points in her scholastic career than Derkack -- Devyn Quigley of Manchester Township, the Shore’s all-time leading scorer (2,588 points), who surpassed 2,000 points last month.

Middlesex County’s (and New Jersey’s) leading female scorer is Kristen Somogyi, who concluded her scholastic career 32 years ago with a Tournament of Champions title and 3,899 points at St. Peter’s in New Brunswick.

Of the tens of thousands of student-athletes who’ve laced up sneakers and taken shots in the lane and behind the 3-point arc, it’s believed approximately 100 to 125 girls have reached the 2,000-point plateau in New Jersey high school basketball during the past half century.

“It’s an incredible accomplishment,” said Colonia coach Sandi Chiera, who scored 1,886 points in her high school career at Eastern Christian in North Haledon, and whose daughter, Madison Chiera, graduated from Colonia High last season with 1,514 points.

Derkack’s achievement becomes even more remarkable considering her freshman year was the shortened COVID season, when she and Colonia played just 13 games (10-3 record). She scored 218 points with the varsity as a ninth grader.

The Patriots have played at least 28 games in Derkack’s final three seasons, thanks to a run to the sectional final her sophomore season, and back-to-back appearances in the GMC Tournament title game the last two years. Colonia, ranked second in the Home News Tribune Top 10 GMC rankings all season, won its 20th game Thursday. The Patriots will play host to Payne Tech in the sectional quarterfinals Tuesday.

In 98 games at Colonia, Derkack averaged 20.3 ppg. This season, Derkack was averaging 24.2 points entering the state tournament, including an eye-opening scoring stretch of eight 30-point games in a 15-game span. She scored 38 points (second highest single game total in her career) against Carteret on Feb. 8.

In addition, Derkack, who made 474 free throws and 133 three-point field goals heading into last night’s game, has totaled 1,200 rebounds, 477 steals, 365 assists and 204 blocked shots in her Colonia career.

TWO GRAND

Middlesex County girls basketball players who scored 2,000 or more points in their scholastic careers:

Kristen Somogyi (‘92) St. Peter’s (NB) 3,899

Danaejah Grant (‘12) Piscataway 2,566

Asjha Jones (‘98) Piscataway 2,266

Lynn Ust (‘87) Hoffman (SA) 2,201

Beth Dickinson (‘99) Spotswood 2,110

Krissy Kuziemski (‘89) Hoffman (SA) 2,080

Cassie Smith (‘14) Metuchen 2,062

Valerie Walker (‘78) Piscataway 2,046

Taylor Derkack (’24) Colonia 2,010 and counting

GAME NOTES

The evening inside Colonia’s gymnasium started with a moment of silence for 30-year-old Danny Brix, an assistant coach for the Patriots boys team, who passed away suddenly Wednesday. Brix graduated from St. Joseph High School in Metuchen and played basketball at Stonehill College. Colonia boys had its state tournament opener vs. Fort Lee moved from Thursday to Friday.

Isabel Gidado and Hailey Conklin scored nine points apiece last night and Mya Patino added eight points. Nashaelah Hooker pulled down seven rebounds and Conklin contributed six boards in the victory over No. 15 seed Belleville on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ Girls basketball: Colonia's Taylor Derkack reaches rare milestone