The Columbus Wildcat girls’ basketball team couldn’t recover from a slow start and dropped their first game of the new year 49-35 against Wapello last night in Columbus Junction. Trailing 14-2 after one quarter proved to be too large a hole to dig out of, as Columbus would be down by as much 24 points in the second half. Wildcat sophomore Ariana Vergara still had a strong night with team highs of 16 points and six rebounds. Senior Victoria Howell added six points, three rebounds, three assists and a game-high seven steals. Columbus falls to 3-4 in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference and 4-6 overall. The Wildcats are right back at it tonight when they host Highland.