Just when you thought the Ellis twins border on perfection, there is this bit of news.

They're not.

That comes from mom, LaShawnda Barker, who pinches her nose for emphasis.

Yes, she raves about her son Isaiah, a junior on the Antelope High School boys basketball team, and her daughter Tyler, who plays on the girls' team, as campus leaders with good intentions and good hearts.

Just so long as nobody from the school sees their bedrooms.

"Smells like a gym or a locker room in there," Barker said amid laughter. "Love my kids – I'm blessed – but they are not tidy at all."

As a single parent who works as a social worker and is involved in the school's booster club, Barker doesn't have to worry about her kids. Find one, and the other is generally right there.

Tyler attends her brother's practices to study the game, to work on her shot on a side rim.

Isaiah observes all of his sister's workouts, too. Then they walk home across the street. Their chatter is nonstop.

"They're inseparable, joined at the hip, twins and best friends," Antelope girls coach Sean Chambers said. "They're always smiling, ear-to-ear. Neatest thing I've seen."

Surely, one holds an upper hand in this sibling situation?

"Tyler's the bossy one," Barker said. "She was bigger than him, taller as kids, and she'd beat him in wrestling, and Isaiah would tell me, 'Don't worry, mom. I'll catch up.' Actually, I think he was worried."

Added Chambers: "There are times Isaiah waits on his sister hand and foot. Gets her bag, gets her water. It's an admiration thing."

Tyler said the perks go both ways.

"I cook for him a lot, so it's even," she said.

In games, the Ellis twins are defensive stalwarts. Tyler is a 6-foot-1 forward, seemingly improving by the week. She is powerful in the post on offense, nimble in the paint on defense as she snares rebounds.

Uncoordinated as an eighth-grader, Tyler now towers as the Sac-Joaquin Section's leading rebounder, pulling down 16.4 a game to go with a 12.5 scoring average for the No. 6 Titans (10-4).

"Tyler craves rebounds, a monster rebounder, like Dennis Rodman," Chambers said. "Her hands are phenomenal. She's strong, but she has great footwork, too."

For the boys team, Isaiah provides nonstop, relentless energy. He wears his teammates out in practice. Rob Richards, the Antelope boys coach, said he enjoys unleashing his wiry 6-6 forward.

Isaiah averages 12.8 points and 7.3 rebounds for the No. 5 Titans (15-1).

"Isaiah never wants to come out, even in practice, and when he does, he says, 'Coach, put me back in on defense,' " Richards said. "You love players like that."

For boys home games, Tyler is camped in the middle of the Red Zone bleachers reserved for students who form one of the region's most raucous rooting sections.

"He can hear me scream after he makes a play – 'that's my brother!' " Tyler said.

Isaiah returns the favor as he cheers his sister. When she makes a good play, he'll tell friends, "I taught her that."

They roll their eyes. They know better.

"I enjoy being a twin. We both do," Isaiah said. "It's fun to have someone to share some of the same interests. But if she gets more rebounds than I do in a game, she holds that over my head."

The twins grew up with a ball in each of their hands. They tore into the mini-Nerf basketball set, and then would wrestle each other to the floor for a loose ball, between the couch and the coffee table. That was when they were 10.

Now at 16? They still wrestle at home, be it for the last piece of pizza or for a clean pair of socks.

"They're too big to be wrestling now, but they do," Barker said. "I tell them they're too big for this, someone's going to get hurt, but they're still kids. It's amazing to see them grow from babies to this."

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