The 2025 NCAA women’s basketball tournament delivered a certified thriller Monday, adding some much-desired drama to a month that has been noticeably lacking it on the men’s side.
One day after the school’s men’s team got a buzzer-beating bank shot from Derik Queen to advance to the Sweet 16, Maryland’s women’s basketball team outlasted Alabama 111-108 in double overtime at the Xfinity Center in College Park Maryland.
Sarah Ashlee Barker was electric for the Crimson Tide in its biggest game of the season, pouring in a program-record 45 points while making 17 of her 25 shots. No points were bigger or more pressurized than three consecutive free throws she calmly swished with 0.7 seconds remaining to send the game to a second overtime after she had been fouled on a game-tying 3-point attempt.
Though her team ultimately fell short, and coughed up a 17-point third-quarter lead, the Birmingham, Alabama native did everything she realistically could to try to help get her team to her hometown for the Sweet 16, where it would have matched up against reigning national champion South Carolina.
In what was the second-highest scoring game in NCAA Tournament history, with a combined 219 points between the two squads, Barker was the brightest star, with her 45 points ranking her fourth all-time in NCAA Tournament single-game history.
Here’s more on Barker, including her stats, professional prospects and her famous lineage:
Sarah Ashlee Barker stats
Unlike some March heroes, Barker’s stellar play and penchant for big moments didn’t come out of nowhere.
A six-foot guard, Barker was Alabama’s leading scorer entering the day, averaging 17.2 points per game while shooting 50.3% from the field and 35.6% from 3-point range. She has been much more than a scorer, too, averaging 6.3 rebounds (the second-most on the team), 3.9 assists (second on the team) and a team-best two steals per game. Barker led the Crimson Tide in scoring the previous season, too, at 16.8 points per game.
Despite being born and raised in Alabama, Barker spent her first two college seasons at SEC rival Georgia before transferring after the 2021-22 season.
Here’s a year-by-year look at Barker’s stats, with her outing Monday not reflected in her averages for this season:
2020-21 (Georgia): 5.1 points/game, 2.7 rebounds/game, 1.2 assists/game, 0.8 steals/game, 33.3% on field goals, 27.8% on 3-pointers
2021-22 (Georgia): 7.7 points/game, 4 rebounds/game, 2.4 assists/game, 1.3 steals/game, 35.9% on field goals, 30.7% on 3-pointers
2022-23 (Alabama): 6.9 points/game, 4.8 rebounds/game, 2.3 assists/game, 1.5 steals/game, 38.2% on field goals, 29.3% on 3-pointers
2023-24 (Alabama): 16.8 points/game, 6.3 rebounds/game, 2.9 assists/game, 1.9 steals/game, 49.1% on field goals, 35.3% on 3-pointers
2024-25 (Alabama): 17.2 points/game, 6.3 rebounds/game, 3.9 assists/game, 2 steals/game, 50.3% on field goals, 35.6% on 3-pointers
Is Sarah Ashlee Barker related to Jay Barker?
Alabama athletic greatness was in Barker’s blood long before she took the court in Maryland on Monday — and before she ever even suited up for the Crimson Tide.
She is the daughter of Jay Barker, who was Alabama’s quarterback for its 1992 national championship team under coach Gene Stallings. As a senior in 1994, he won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award, given annually to the top upperclassman quarterback in college football, and finished fifth in Heisman Trophy voting.
Barker spent two seasons in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers before going on to have stints with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League and the Birmingham Thunderbolts of the ill-fated XFL.
Sarah Ashlee Barker WNBA draft
For all of her achievements at the college level, Barker does not currently appear in 2025 WNBA mock drafts from several major outlets.
Each of those mock drafts, however, don’t go beyond the first round. The WNBA Draft has three rounds, meaning it’s possible Barker could simply be selected later.
USA TODAY: Not included in the first round
ESPN: Not included in the first round
The Athletic: Not included in the first round
CBS Sports: Not included in the first round
Bleacher Report: Not included in the first round
Sarah Ashlee Barker height
Barker is listed on the official Alabama roster at six feet tall.