Alabama women's basketball is missing a key piece of its roster in guard Sarah Ashlee Barker .
Barker suffered a lower leg injury in the Crimson Tide's 79-69 win over Florida on Jan. 2 to open Southeastern Conference play. She is what head coach Kristy Curry calls day-to-day.
"There's not a tougher kid in the country than Sarah Ashlee," Curry said when speaking to the media on Tuesday. "And there's not a kid in the country that wants to get back more than Sarah Ashlee. It's day to day because that's who Sarah Ashlee is."
The 6-foot graduate student spent her first two collegiate seasons at the University of Georgia before transferring to Alabama ahead of the 2022-23 season. Barker is a reigning 2024 First Team All-SEC member.
Prior to sustaining the injury, Barker started in each of the Crimson Tide 's 15 contests and was averaging 15.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, shooting 49.7% from the field. She posted a season-high 25 points vs. ULM on Nov. 17. Barker leads the Crimson Tide with 2.1 steals per game.
"This is an opportunity for this team to be better for when whatever day she does come back," Curry said. "I think it's just, again, a blessing in disguise, as much as we're going to turn it into one. It either works on your or you work on it. And I feel confident in our kids having the ability to try to fill the void the best that they can collectively."
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In Barker's place in the Crimson Tide's starting line-up vs Missouri was Diana Collins. It marked the Ohio State transfer's first career start at Alabama, with Collins collecting six points in the 68-49 win over the Tigers.
"We love Diana's ability to score the ball, and we love her ability to handle the ball," Curry said. "We're just very comfortable. She changes the game for us on the ball too defensively."
Collins, though, will not be the one player Curry is looking at to replace Barker. Instead, she said, it will come by committee, with Curry saying she expects to play her entire bench to see the court.
"You're not going to replace a first team all SEC with one player," Curry said. "So as much as we talk about Diana, we've also got to talk about Christabel (Ezumah), we've also got to talk about JeAnna (Cunningham). We've also got to have some folks slide into other positions, you know, and really step up and help us."
Alabama definitely played by committee against the Tigers, Zaay Green recording her sixth 20-plus point performance on the season (23) and Aaliyah Nye collecting her sixth-straight double figure scoring game (11). Essence Cody had her 10th straight double digit scoring on the season with 10 points and graduate JeAnna Cunningham finished with a season-high six rebounds in what was her first-career start.
Along with playing by committee, Curry also emphasized the importance of her team staying out of foul trouble.
"We've got to have this by committee," Curry said. "We've got to, got to have everybody step up."
Alabama is on the road at Texas on Jan. 9 and at Ole Miss on Jan. 12. The Crimson Tide return home on Jan. 16 to host South Carolina at Coleman Coliseum.
This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama women's basketball to play by committee with Sarah Ashlee Barker injury
