Sarah Ashlee Barker (born September 10, 2001) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home games at Crypto.co ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. The league comprises 13 teams (scheduled to expand to 15 in 2026). The WNBA is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan. The WNBA w ...

(WNBA). She played college basketball for the Georgia Lady Bulldogs and

Alabama Crimson Tide The Alabama Crimson Tide refers to the college athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic varsity teams that represent the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide teams compete in the Na ...

of the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

. She was selected ninth overall by the Sparks in the

2025 WNBA draft The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2025 WNBA season, 2025 season was held following the 2024–25 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. It marked the first draft for the newest expansion team for the league, ...

Early life

As an eighth-grader, Barker was diagnosed with

osteochondritis dissecans Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD or OD) is a joint disorder primarily of the subchondral bone in which cracks form in the articular cartilage and the underlying subchondral bone. OCD usually causes pain during and after sports. In later stages o ...

, a joint condition that eventually required a major four-hour surgery and left her on crutches for six months.

High school career

Barker played basketball for Spain Park High School in

Hoover, Alabama Hoover is a city in the Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson and Shelby County, Alabama, Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. Hoover is the largest suburban city in Alabama and the sixth largest city in Alabama. The populati ...

. She was the 2020 Alabama Gatorade player of the year, 2020 Alabama Sports Writers Association Miss Basketball, and a two-time ASWA Class 7A state player of the year. She averaged 23.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.9 steals, and scored more than 2,000 points. On October 8 2018, she committed to

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

College career

Georgia (2020–2022)

In her freshman year, Barker played in 24 games, averaging 5.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. She had career highs against App State, with 12 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals. Barker was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. As a sophomore, Barker started every game and scored 14 points in a win against Notre Dame. At the end of the season, she transferred to

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

Alabama (2022–2025)

As a senior, Barker started and played in 33 games, and surpassed 1,000 career points on February 18. She scored a career-high 34 points against

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

on January 28. Barker was named to the first-team All-SEC. In her senior year, Barker led Alabama with 17.2 points per game and 2.0 steals per game. She tied her career-high of eight assists against Georgia,

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

, and Green Bay. She was named as a top 10 finalist for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award. In a double-overtime loss to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

in the 2025 NCAA women's basketball tournament, Barker scored a program-high 45 points.

Professional career

Los Angeles Sparks (2025–present)

On April 14, 2025, Barker was selected ninth overall by the

in the

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

''Stats current through game on July 14, 2025'' , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, 20, , 7, , 18.2, , .316, , .313, , .778, , 2.6, , 1.1, , 0.5, , 0.2, , 1.6, , 3.9 , - class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , align="left" , 1 year, 1 team , 20, , 7, , 18.2, , .316, , .313, , .778, , 2.6, , 1.1, , 0.5, , 0.2, , 1.6, , 3.9

College

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 24, , 0, , 16.7, , 33.3, , 27.8, , 58.8, , 2.7, , 1.2, , 0.8, , 0.2, , 1.5, , 5.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31, , 31, , 25.3, , 35.9, , 30.7, , 72.7, , 4.0, , 2.4, , 1.3, , 0.4, , 2.1, , 7.7 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 31, , 28, , 23.4, , 38.2, , 29.3, , 64.8, , 4.8, , 2.3, , 1.5, , 0.6, , 2.3, , 6.9 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33, , 33, , 30.0, , 49.1, , 35.3, , 71.1, , 6.3, , 2.9, , 1.9, , 0.5, , 3.1, , 16.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2024–25 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28, , 28, , 31.7, , 51.4, , 37.5, , 70.9, , 6.3, , 3.9, , 2.0, , 0.8, , 3.3, , 18.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 147, , 120, , 25.8, , 44.3, , 32.9, , 69.0, , 4.9, , 2.6, , 1.5, , 0.5, , 2.5, , 11.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="14", Statistics retrieved from

Sports-Reference Sports Reference, LLC is an American sports statistics company that operates databases of several sports. They include Pro Football Reference for American football, Baseball Reference for baseball, Basketball Reference for basketball, Hockey Ref ...

Personal life

Barker is the daughter of former professional football player

Jay Barker Harry Jerome "Jay" Barker (born July 20, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, where he won a national cha ...

, who was the starting quarterback of Alabama's 1992 national championship winning team, and stepdaughter of country music singer-songwriter

Sara Evans Sara Lynn Evans (; born February 5, 1971) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She is also credited as a record producer, actress, and author. She had five songs reach the number one spot on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboar ...

. Barker is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Sarah Ashlee 2001 births Living people American women's basketball players Alabama Crimson Tide women's basketball players Basketball players from Alabama Georgia Lady Bulldogs basketball players Guards (basketball) Los Angeles Sparks draft picks Los Angeles Sparks players People from Birmingham, Alabama