If there’s one thing Barkus knew a lot about in her time as a Lady Cardinal, it was how to win. In her two years as the floor leader, she helped record 62 wins in 66 games, including an unbeaten regular season in 2003.

As a sophomore that season, she averaged 20.6 points per game and was named the State Farm/WBCA Junior College Player of the Year. She was also named the Region XIV Most Valuable Player and was a Kodak first-team All-America selection. She was twice named all-conference and all-region.

She led the Lady Cardinals to a pair of conference championships and a regional title in 2002 as a freshman. The Lady Cardinals finished seventh at the national tournament.

After leaving the college, she played two seasons at Louisiana Tech, where she averaged 8.8 points per game as a junior and 12.8 as a senior. In two years, she had 178 assists, 93 steals, 78 three-pointers and scored in double figures 14 games. She was named all-conference as a senior.

She played professionally in Iceland in 2005, averaging 23.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 3.7 steals and earning a selection to the All-Star game.