2000 base malibu overheating

hoping this forum is active enough to help with my old lil car, but ive been having overheating issues. its at 127k mileage and ill admit i have not been easy on it. i drove from arkansas to arizona to move in with family and along the way i had overheating issues and had to get the water pump replaced, it barely made it the rest of the way before overheating again. my moms bf flushed and cleaned everything and it was running good for a while until some battery issues, i got a new bat and the issues vanished, but now im back to overheating issues. i cant drive more the. 5 minutes before my temp gauge starts rising rapidly, im great on coolant and nothing seems to be leaking, it still drives fine but after a short period the temp will rise faster than im comfortable. could this be a trans issue, radiator, or thermostat. id like to find an easy fix for my lil car!