A 12-year-old girl basketball player who is too good to play with the boys? It's happening in Beaverton, Ore., according to a report in The Oregonian newspaper.

Jaime Nared is nearly 6-foot-1, can nail 3-pointers with ease and has scored 30 points against boys in the past. And that is why she has been banned from playing in a boys youth league in the Portland suburb, her coach told the newspaper.

Nared's coach, Michael Abraham, said Nared has played on his team for years, but was just recently banned as officials cited a rule prohibiting mixed-gender teams.

"I never saw the rule," Abraham told the Oregonian.

"If I'd known about it, I wouldn't have put any of my teams in the league. Besides, she's been playing on this team since second grade, and she plays on our team when we travel around the region. There's never been any problem in any event, not one word of complaint."

Apparently, parents had complained about Nared, but officials said it had more to do with her being a girl than her showing up their sons on the court.

"They said the problem was the boys were playing differently against her because she was a girl," said Neal Franzen, the director of the league. "They'd been taught to not push a girl, so they weren't fouling her hard, and the focus had shifted from playing basketball to noticing a girl was on the floor with them."

But Abraham told the Oregonian that "I think the complaints come from parents who don't like seeing a girl that good playing against their sons."

According to the report, Nared prefers the boys game because of the speed.

"I think the boys on a specific team don't like me," she said. "It doesn't seem fair."

Nared's mom, Reiko Williams, told the newspaper that it was one particular game that caused the problems.

"She scored 30 points," Williams said. "I remember one play. She stole the ball, dribbled up court and made a behind-the-back pass to a teammate. He missed the lay-in, and she grabbed the rebound and put it in. I think it was just too much for some of those parents.

"The next day, she came home and said they wouldn't let her play with the boys anymore."

Abraham told the newspaper that Nared is far too good to play with only girls.

"We beat one team 90-7," Abraham said of an instance of her playing in a girls league. "At her level, it's like having Shaq on a high school team."

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