Here’s a quick question for those who keep tabs on the local basketball scene: What player, boy or girl, is the only one averaging 20 or more points a game this season?

Unless you follow local basketball as closely as this sports writer, it’s unlikely you would have guessed G-MU junior, Tanya Barnes.

Barnes is already a two-time Tri-Valley League all-star, and was a first-team selection a year ago on a club that won just three games. Even though the Raiders were in a rebuilding mode, opposing teams and coaches took notice of Barnes and her explosive play. Still, the lefty slinger still had some growing to do.

“Last year she shouldered a lot of the scoring, and there were times she forced things because she felt she had to,” said G-MU’s longtime girls basketball coach, Jim Johnson. “The other kids allowed her to do that because they thought that was probably their best opportunity to win.”