Cedar Falls standout Anaya Barney on a journey all her own
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (BVM) — Anaya Barney remembers how she felt when she began receiving letters from colleges trying to recruit her to play basketball for them. She was an eighth grader and it took her by surprise.
“It was kind of like, ‘Woah this is starting this early?,’” Barney said. “I didn’t realize you start getting in contact with coaches that soon. I guess I kind of had an idea from her (Barney’s older sister Kiana), but it all just became real to me when I got my first letter.”
Although it felt early, it was well deserving for a girl who had grown up in the gym. Coming from an athletic family, Anaya had always played multiple sports, but basketball stood out above the rest.
“I have five siblings so all of us have just kind of grown up in the gym and that’s what made me like the sport (basketball) the most,” Anaya said. “It’s something I can share with my family.”
Besides feeding her love of the game, it also guaranteed that Anaya was never far away from a competitive game of one-on-one and was able to watch her older siblings play the game. In particular her sister Kiana, who played AAU and was coached by their father, Willie.
“Me and one of the girls (who had an older sister on the team) spent a lot of time shooting during halftime or during timeouts because we would sit on the bench with the team,” Anaya said. “We ended up making our own AAU team and that was when I really decided basketball was what I wanted to do. I think together we both wanted to follow in our sisters footsteps and being inspired by our sisters pushed us to love the game more.”
From AAU Anaya would also garner interest from colleges like her sister and would join Kiana at Cedar Falls High School. However, she was not set on following Kiana to college.
Two years her senior, Kiana was committed to the University of Northern Iowa by the time Anaya was receiving recruiting letters. Including one from the Panthers.
Being a Cedar Falls native, Anaya had grown up around UNI and coach Tanya Warren’s program. She would go to camps and games cheering the Panthers on throughout her childhood but her ties to UNI were deeper than that.
Her family is a Panther family. Kiana plays basketball at UNI. Anaya’s older brother, Isaiah, attends college there and Anaya’s parents, Jodie and Willie, both competed at UNI in track and field and football, respectively. It was those ties that made her question whether she wanted to follow her family and become a Panther.
“At the beginning if you asked anybody, UNI wasn’t at the top,” Anaya said. “They were always there because it was always something that was in my family and I’ve grown up around UNI basketball, but I was thinking to myself I wanted to do my own thing.”
It wasn’t until Anaya was sitting next to her mom at an AAU game that she came to a realization about her future. She could go to Northern Iowa, follow in her family’s footsteps, but make it all her own.
She then talked with coach Warren, and together they worked out how to make that a reality and Anaya committed.
“It’s really awesome to be following in my family’s path but creating my own journey on the way,” Anaya said.
The best part was now that Anaya was committed to the Panthers, she could once again play with her sister, accomplishing something they had always dreamed of doing together and continuing a relationship that had played a big role in getting them to the McLeod Center.
“She pushes me because she wants me to be better than her,” Anaya said. “We push each other to our full potential.”
That was a common characteristic throughout the Barney family. They’re an athletic, competitive bunch that pushes one another to be their best. In particular, Kiana and Anaya once they were both on the varsity team at Cedar Falls.
“I felt that when I was a freshman and a sophomore even to have that older figure there telling you that it was going to be ok and with the constructive criticism we would get on each other,” Anaya said. “That really helped me be the player that I am.”
The player that Anaya is now is one of the best in Iowa. As the only senior for the Tigers, Anaya is almost averaging a double-double this year, scoring 24.2 points while grabbing 9.7 rebounds. She also surpassed 1,000 points and 500 rebounds for her career this season.
More importantly for Anaya, who takes pride in her defensive abilities, she is also averaging 2.5 steals and 2.8 blocks.
“I really like defense and I think my blocking is something that I’m proud of myself for,” Anaya said. “I love getting blocks and making big defensive plays because I know that a lot of the time it’s going to result in a good play on offense.”
Aside from the stats, Anaya has also been a leader for Cedar Falls since the departure of her sister, Cynthia Wolf and Kam Finley following her sophomore year as well as Emerson Green after last year. She will be rejoining all of them at UNI.
“I had people ahead of me that have really helped me be able to step into the leader role. I think my sophomore year was when I really had to step into that role,” Anaya said. “I think it was pretty easy for me to step into that role this year just because of everyone that I’ve had ahead of me.”
Now as Anaya and the Tigers enter the postseason, she is finishing up one last goal she set for herself when she entered her final season at Cedar Falls. Aside from a deep run into the postseason, Anaya wants to make sure she has left her mark on the Tigers.
“I want to leave a mark as CF,” Anaya said. “A big thing I’ve focused on is that I’ve been the best leader that I can be and leaving my mark CF as far as like just making sure that they know that even when I’m gone from CF that they can come to me for things.”
Especially her younger sister, Jasmine, who has been able to play with Anaya over the last two seasons as a freshman and sophomore. Allowing Anaya to take on the role Kiana once had and just like Anaya did it will soon be Jasmine’s time to step up.
“Other people are going to have to step up into the leader role next year so I’m just hoping that I made a big enough impact on them that they know what they need to do,” Anaya said.
It will begin another journey for the Barney family that may very well end up at UNI, but as Anaya has shown, although the destination is the same, the journey can be different. Anaya is proud to join her family as a Panther but just like them she will make the experience all her own.
“It will still be my own story,” Anaya said.
