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Going into her second knee surgery, Sarah Ashlee Barker feared that any future dreams of playing basketball were over.
Two years later, Barker led Spain Park High School to its first state championship. As the final bell rang and the rehabilitation process was by her side, an emotional Barker knew in that moment that she had made it. His comeback story had just begun.
After battling two injuries, Barker is now a rookie for undefeated Georgia women’s basketball. Head coach Joni Taylor knew his persistence would make for a perfect game at Georgia and took a chance on the young rookie, and Barker quickly averaged 6.5 points per game in 18.8 minutes of play.
Barker is living what she dreamed of from a young age: creating her own legacy. Six games into the 2020-21 season, Barker has already earned SEC Freshman of the Week honors and is just getting started.
Repainting Georgia red and black would be unheard of because the Barker family name runs deep in the state of Alabama. When people hear about Sarah Ashlee Barker, they may think of her as the daughter of Jay Barker, a former Alabama quarterback who won the 1992 National Championship. Links could be made to Braxton Barker, a quarterback second-year quarterback at Alabama, or his twin brother Harrison Barker, who is a freshman quarterback at UAB.
Growing up in a house full of boys and playing hoop with them in the aisle, Barker began embodying their athleticism in sixth grade. A star on her team, Barker picked up three other sports and found she was good enough to play for her brother’s basketball teams.
But over the past four years, Sarah has been committed to making people appreciate her for the athlete she is.
The first person to notice this passion was his former high school coach, Mike Chase.
After hearing about the young phenom, Chase attended every women’s recreational game hoping to see Barker’s athleticism in action, but she was nowhere to be found.
“I went to a guy who knew her and said, ‘Hey, I was looking for this kid but I can’t find her playing,'” Chase said. “He asked me, ‘Well, are you going to watch the boy’s games? She plays in the men’s leagues.
At that time, Chase knew Barker deserved his attention and got to know her after practice with his brother’s team. After spending an entire year on the seventh-grade team, Chase brought her to practice with the high school team.
Just as she was about to make Spain Park history as the first middle schooler to play for a varsity high school team, Barker faced a life-changing test.
A knee injury sustained during volleyball practice in 2015 led doctors to diagnose him with osteochondritis dissecans, a condition in which the bone under the cartilage of a joint dies due to lack of circulation blood. If not treated immediately, osteochondritis dissecans can lead to the development of osteoarthritis at an early age.
Barker, then 13, had to decide which surgery was right for her.
“I had my first operation and there was a 50 per cent chance the operation would work, but we took it because it was a 30-minute operation compared to a four-hour operation,” said Barkers.
After six months of rehabilitation, nothing changed, so she returned for the four-hour operation in February 2016.
“That second operation was the hardest thing I’ve ever been through,” Barker said. “It was tough, and there were times when I thought I wouldn’t be the player I was before, that I wouldn’t be as quick or that I wouldn’t cut as much. There’s even had times when I thought I would never set foot on the basketball court again.
Back in the same position she started, Barker sat for another six months, but this time without weight-bearing. For a year, her life was spent on the sidelines hoping she could return to the game she loves.
Chase continued to invest his time in Barker to bring her back to the player she was.
“I was going to her PE classes and doing rehab with her,” Chase said. “It was just her and me in the weight room doing stuff and we picked her up.”
It was the confidence he instilled in her that allowed Barker to regain his confidence.
“Having someone who’s always there for me and telling me you can get through this is what brought us together,” Barker said. “He always wanted the best for me.”
Just as she reached the one-year milestone after her second surgery, Barker took her freshman team to the state championship before losing to rival Hoover in overtime. In her sophomore season, she brought the state championship trophy home to Spain Park with a 56–20 win and a team-high 14 points and 9 rebounds.
And colleges have started to take notice. In December and January, Barker received offers from SEC schools to play collegiate basketball in a full round.
It was only a matter of time before his national school in Alabama made an offer to the daughter of one of their own. Narrowing down his picks to Alabama, Auburn and Georgia, there was something about the latter that Barker couldn’t refuse.
After all, Georgia aligned perfectly with her dream of becoming her own athlete.
“Once I finally got to campus, it was one of those things where I knew Georgia was where I was meant to be,” Barker said. “It was a different feeling than what I’ve felt at other colleges.”
Pressured to represent her name well, Barker found it easy to belittle herself as a rookie on a seasoned Georgia team. Her courage and her elite athleticism stood out from her teammates from the first practice.
“When she started running in practice, she beat everyone by a mile,” senior Gabby Connally said. “We did a one-on-one drill and I took it a bit lightly and she completely beat me off the dribble and that’s when I knew she was not someone I could do the moves with.”
Once in his rhythm, nothing stopped him.
“It’s funny because against Georgia Tech she jumped on somebody for a rebound, and that’s exactly what she does,” said redshirt junior Jenna Staiti. “As soon as she arrived here, we knew she was this energetic person for us.”
It was this energy that led Taylor to give Barker significant playing time in his first college game. Since Mercer’s victory, Barker has earned his place in a Georgia team made up of four seniors.
“She’s aggressive, can shoot all three, she’s tough, strong and an overall confident kid,” Taylor said. “She remembers the only mistake from the five things she did well, so it’s important to show her the positive things she’s done and keep challenging her. She’s someone who wants a challenge and who accepts a challenge.
Keeping pace with the Bulldogs’ fast offense is one of many challenges, Barker said, but each game represents a new opportunity to improve at the game she loves. Like her relationship with Chase, Barker said she was grateful Taylor trusted her enough to get more than 18 minutes of playing time.
“Coming here, I wanted to impact this team, whatever it was,” Barker said. “I’ve always been told that you can’t control the shots coming in, but you can control your effort, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”
Barker is the first and only college basketball player in her family. Although she still has at least three years of eligibility left, Barker has earned the respect she has longed to create for herself since following her brothers.
“I’ve coached basketball for over 25 years and haven’t had a better kid who’s been a bigger leader for me,” Chase said. “Even though she’s a freshman now, she understands what it takes to be a great player when it comes to communicating with her coach and teammates. Once the seniors graduate, I know she will eventually take over.
Printed by permission of independent student media organization The Red & Black based in Athens, Georgia; redandblack.com/sports
