Sometimes it would be after practice. Other times during practice. Sometimes it would just be the two of them, alone, working on their game.

Huron High School’s mascot may be the River Rat, but with all the extra time DeVonyea Johnson and Tyler Hardy used to put in on the basketball court, gym rats seems a more appropriate moniker.

Teammates at Huron and in AAU for two seasons, Johnson’s job in their battles was to attempt what no one else seemed capable of: Stopping Hardy.

“She never took it easy on me, she always challenged me,” says Johnson. “That rubbed off on me and helped me challenge my teammates this year.”

Hardy, now a guard for Wayne State University, became Huron’s all-time leading scorer and was the Ann Arbor News Player of the Year as a senior in 2009. This year, it was Johnson’s turn to lead. Johnson’s turn to be the go-to scorer and her turn to push her teammates.

Johnson’s turn to be the AnnArbor.com Player of the Year.

“It was an important part of her growth, being under the wing of Tyler Hardy,” says Huron coach Steve Vinson. “It made her a better leader.”

In this, Johnson’s senior season, Huron went 21-4 and won its first ever SEC Red title. Johnson led her team in scoring with 11.8 points per game during the regular season after averaging 8.2 per game as a junior.

She stepped her game up even more in the River Rats’ run to the Class A regional finals with a 13.2-point average in the playoffs.

“She did a really good job of leading her team this year,” says Vinson. “She was thrust into that role and she made sure we competed hard in practice, and you can’t see that in the numbers. That doesn’t show up in the stats, and obviously, she produced on the court as well.”

Johnson, who was a “special mention” on the Associate Press All-State list, had plenty of assistance - literally and figuratively - in the backcourt from teammate Charlise Slater, herself an AP All State honorable mention player.

“It was great being able to finish our senior season playing together, it makes things so much easier and so much more fun,” says Johnson.

Charlise’s father, Chris Slater, who coached the girls’ summer league team, affectionately refers to the pair as “the two amigos” and says they’ve been running the show together since their days at West Middle School.

“When they were at West, the coach would call out a play and they would look at each other and you knew that wasn’t what they were going to run,” says Slater.

The girls liked running a high pick-and-roll, and no matter what their coach was calling, they knew their bread and butter could get them points.

Johnson laughs at the memory of her audibling days.

“That was our look, and that’s all we needed to do and we just knew,” says Johnson.

Johnson will continue playing basketball collegiately at Urbana (Ohio) University.

“I love to play. In a game, one-on-one, pick-up, any time” Johnson says. “It’s just a big part of my life.”

She’s just an old-fashioned gym rat.

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by e-mail at petercunningham@annarbor.com, or by phone at 734-623-2561. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.