By Don Ketchum

Johnishia Welles is a brain. She takes honors classes at Phoenix Barry Goldwater High and likes to play Sudoku, the numbers grid puzzle that appears in many newspapers.

She can solve the puzzle that many others can’t.

On the basketball floor, Welles has some numbers that opponents can’t seem to solve, either.

Through the Bulldogs’ first 19 games, the 5-foot-10 senior post player was averaging 24.6 points and 15.2 rebounds per game, according to MaxPreps. She scored a career-high 41 points in a game earlier this season and had 26 rebounds in a game, and has surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career.

“She is playing very well and we are playing very well as a team,’’ said Barry Goldwater coach Stacy Spencer, whose team was 15-4 entering its game against Glendale Deer Valley on Friday night (Jan. 28).

While most of her peers began playing basketball at around the age of 7, Welles did not start playing until she was in seventh grade.

“I thought I was going to be a cheerleader,’’ she said. “I was kind of a tomboy and also played sports with the boys. When I started playing basketball, they called me “Shaq.’ Once I started playing, I didn’t want to play anything else.’’

There was club ball and high school ball, virtually year-round.

“To ask Johnishia to stop playing basketball is like asking the sun not to shine,’’ Spencer said.

Welles said that she likes how she feels when she is part of a team. Playing basketball gives her a chance to meet people, and she enjoys the competitiveness.

She has been dominant in the post, but she knows that she will have to move to a guard spot in college. She has been working on shooting the ball from a greater distance, her ball-handling skills and defense.

“My family and I keep hoping that I will grow another couple of inches,’’ she said. “My dad and my three brothers are all pretty well over 6 feet, and my mom is about 5-9.’’

Welles has received attention mainly from junior colleges. While she would like to find a good four-year school, starting with a juco wouldn’t be so bad.

Barry Goldwater has a mixture of younger and older players. Welles has known most of them for a long time, playing with them in club ball.

“We are friends on and off the court. We have been playing together for so long. That’s what makes this year’s team so fun,’’ she said. “I think some of the younger players look up to me and I like that. I like helping people the way people have helped me.’’

She likes helping people solve problems, much the same thing as what she sees on her favorite crime shows on TV. She is strongly considering becoming a forensic pathologist.

“A lot of times, I can solve the (TV) case in the first five minutes, but I know it really isn’t that easy,’’ she said.