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.”

This season, the Raiders have won four of their first five games, and have already surpassed last year’s meager win total of three. Barnes led her team to a back-to-back T-V wins scoring 23 points against Edmeston, and 24 earlier this week in a comfortable win over Morris to raise her season scoring average to 20.0.