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.
The Raiders have not had this type of prolific scoring threat since all-time leading scorer Shelly Miles graduated earlier this decade. Barnes shares some of the same qualities as Miles, and is our selection today as Evening Sun/Smith Ford LLC Athlete of the Week.
“I’ve been lucky to have those types of players (Miles, Barnes) over the years,” Johnson said. “(Tanya) is so fast, like Shelly, and is absolutely fearless taking the ball to the basket – almost to a fault. She’s one of the good ones we’ve had, and probably will be as good as anyone we’ve had by the time she graduates.”
Barnes, plagued with foul trouble for much of the first half against Edmeston last week, was on the court long enough to score a season-best 23 points. The next time on the floor, she gave her club a big spark before halftime. She beat her Morris defender down the floor, and launched a 30-footer before the buzzer that found the bottom of the net. The shot was a demonstration of Barnes’ ability under pressure as she bettered her season-best point total by one.
“She’s similar to Shelly, no matter what, she can get a shot off for us,” Johnson said. “She knows we want the ball in her hands in those situations. If you back off and inch, she’s quick with her jump shot. If you play her too close, she’ll go right by.”
Of the growth we spoke about earlier, it has come in abundance from all of G-MU’s players, not just Barnes. “Two things are happening now,” Johnson said. “Tanya is letting the game come to her more, and the others are ready when she passes the ball. It’s making it a lot of fun.”
In addition to leading her team in scoring, Barnes is averaging a team-best five assists a contest as the shooting guard. She is also learning to use her off hand, can post up when needed, and is continually working to improve, Johnson said. “I think it’s the nature of playing for a small school that you’re not noticed as much,” Johnson said. “Certainly, she is among the top three or four players in our league right now. We’re glad to have her, she makes all of us better.”