How Sarah Ashlee Barker's Absence Set Alabama Up for Strong Finish

No coach would ever wish for his or her star player to miss any amount of time. Injuries are an unfortunate part of sports, and Alabama women's basketball was without leading scorer Sarah Ashlee Barker for six games.

The Crimson Tide went 4-2 during that stretch including a win in the game that she went down with the injury in against Florida and a huge road win at Ole Miss.

"I think that I was able to be in a different role," Barker said. "Obviously, my voice needed to be the same. Coach Kristy challenged me in a way of like, ‘Hey, make sure your leadership role is still the same. Even though you can’t be on the floor, your voice still matters.’ So I think just understanding that if I do have an off night, we have such great players on our team that it’s not just me who wins basketball games. And that’s the thing— we have Essence Cody, Aaliyah Nye, Zaay Green, and they stepped up big time when I was out. Karly Weathers does the little things."

Alabama head coach Kristy Curry said it was "staggering" that her team was able to 4-2 without Barker, but it really showed the depth her team has.

" It’s just a credit to those kids for stepping up when their sister was down," Curry said. "And it’s a credit to SA. It’s like, I tried to tell her it’s an opportunity to see the game from a different lens. She wants to go into coaching, so if anything, I thought that it put her in a position to be able to work on her leadership skills.

"The success we've had this season, when you go back and look at that stretch and those kids that stepped up during that time are incredibly special."

Green scored 20+ points in four of the six games. Nye had a 32-point performance in Alabama's win at Ole Miss. Missing their leading scorer caused other players to step up in Barker's absence.

Green and Nye are both prolific scorers averaging over 15 points per game this season which has made the Tide a tough team for opponents to defend. Take away Barker, and Nye can sink a 3-point shot. Double team Nye beyond the perimeter, and that opens up things for Barker, Green or Weathers. Alabama has also gotten contributions from Cody in the post and Diana Collins off the bench.

"Having a team that doesn’t just rely on one person," Barker said. "We have so many people and so many weapons that that can do so many different things. And I was just really proud of them and how they stepped up and and put me on their back for for the time being of me being out."

In her first game back from injury, she scored a season-high 36 points against Vanderbilt, but Alabama lost by two points at home and then lost the next game at top-15 Kentucky. After that, the Crimson Tide closed out the regular season winning six of eight games with the only two losses coming on the road to ranked teams.

Barker said the game slowed down for her while she was out watching from the sideline, and she believes it helped her when she was able to return. Now, the Crimson Tide is the 6-seed in the SEC Tournament and poised to be a top-four seed and host team in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.

"We wanted to leave a legacy when we came here, and that’s what we chose to do when we committed to Alabama, committed to Kristy, committed to this university," Barker said. "We committed to the fanbase, and we just want everybody to have a couple more games in this arena if we can and just being able to play in front of the great fans of Alabama would be amazing for that one last time.”