Major: Sports Administration
Hometown: Auckland, New Zealand
Career Highlights: USF Women’s Athlete of the Year 1981-1982; Women's Basketball starter who also played women's volleyball for two seasons.Â
Biography: Baptista was a two-sport athlete who played both women's basketball and volleyball on the Hilltop in the early 1980's. She played under legendary coach Walt Bugler and finished her career ranked in the Top-10 for all-time assists. After finishing her basketball career at USF she went on to become a women's basketball Divsion-1 referee handling many assignments officiating games along the West Coast.Â
Why Baptista Chose USF: "I loved San Francisco and the University provided me with an opportunity to play and be educated close to my family. USF had a rich history in basketball and to be a part of the USF family was an opportunity I was not going to let pass by."
Favorite USF Memory: "We were conference champions in my Freshman year and ranked as high as 12th in the nation in the AIAW national rankings. We had some outstanding wins against Stanford, Cal, USC, Oregon and Oregon State. We were underdogs and unknowns, except for our star player Mary Hile, but we played together like we had been playing together for years."
The USF Student-Athlete Experience: "I remember bonding with my teammates and having a common goal to win and strive to be excellent. It was an honor to be a Don and represent the University of San Francisco. I never dreamed of playing basketball in college and Title IX gave me an opportunity to participate in the sport that I love while earning a college degree. I will forever be thankful for my time at USF. Winning isn’t about the win, it’s about how hard you’re willing to work to attempt to win. The results will speak for themselves."
Life After USF: Baptista pursued and received a Doctor of Chiropractic Degree. She has been in private practice for 27 years. For the first 13 years, she practiced full time in Honolulu, Hawaii. Over the last 14 years, she changed paths into teaching. Baptista is now a full time senior faculty member at the New Zealand College of Chiropractic in Auckland, New Zealand. She also became a Division-1 Women’s Basketball Official working in the WAC, WCC, BIg Sky and Big West Conferences. She is a member of Toastmasters and Influence Ecology and occasionally speaks to groups of people about Transactional Competence. Â
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