With a player as accomplished as Tristin Baxter, there wasn't much guesswork when it came to figuring out the offensive focal point for the Clovis West High girls water polo team.

But knowing who to stop and actually shutting her down proved to be two entirely different things for teams across the Central Section this season.

Baxter, a senior, scored a school-record 146 goals while leading the Golden Eagles to a second consecutive Division I championship, earning her second straight Bee Player of the Year award in the process.

"You don't see many players like her in the water," said Clovis coach Noah Minton, who watched Baxter score five goals against his team in the section final. "Her swimming is phenomenal and she does not tire. A lot of players, you can tire out. But you can't do that with Tristin Baxter. Her knowledge is great and she can anticipate what's going to happen. It's very hard to contain her. We did it a few times, but she obviously got away from us a lot more times than we contained her."

Teams often used double- and triple-team defenses against Baxter, who will focus on swimming while also playing water polo at Arizona State next season. And when she wasn't scoring through the double- and triple-teams, she was handing out 43 assists and drawing 70 ejections. Baxter also made 88 steals.

"Sometimes it's a little frustrating if they are focused on keeping me out of it," Baxter said. "But you have to work through that and still make stuff happen. It's just part of the game.

"If that happens, as it would sometimes, we definitely had some other girls who would step up."

Clovis West coach Scott Torosian said it's no accident Baxter has emerged as the section's premier player during a four-year career that saw her score a school-record 372 goals and lead the Golden Eagles to four section finals. Baxter also is Clovis West's career leader in steals (295) and ejections drawn (185), while ranking fifth in assists (130).

"She's the leader of our team in every phase of the game," Torosian said. "Defense, offense, she's an all-around great player. Anything you can ask of her, she can do.

"Not only is she the best player on our team, but the hardest worker, too. From swimming sets at the beginning of practice to practicing her shooting, she is always doing it at 100%. She has the desire to get better, constantly. And that work ethic rubs off on her teammates and makes them better."