Sarah Ashlee Barker, and the weight of going out a super hero

Sarah Ashlee Barker needed 15 seconds before she was ready to answer the question.

At first she smiled. Then she sighed. She clicked her tongue. Her eyes welled, as Alabama coach Kristy Curry rubbed her left arm.

“It’s OK,” Curry said. “It’s OK.”

Nothing in the minutes prior to the question during Barker’s postgame press conference made her tear up. Not talking about how she scored 45 points but lost, or the fact No. 5 seed Alabama lost to No. 4 seed Maryland 111-108 in double overtime, which extended Alabama’s Sweet 16 drought to a 27th year.

No. None of that made her cry. Just this question.

What will you remember about this team for years to come?

“I think I will remember the relationships that I’ve built,” said Barker, the Birmingham native. “That’s why I’m so emotional.”

Season endings and sadness are forever companions. That’s not unique to Barker or this Alabama women’s basketball team after they lost in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament on Monday in College Park, Maryland. For every team, in any sport, each season eventually ends and that means those exact people all will not get the chance to work and compete together again.

Barker will be going through that grieving process tonight and in the days ahead, as will her teammates and coaches. That sentiment certainly played a part in Barker’s tears during her postgame press conference, but there was more to them. Hers carried a different weight, because she wasn’t just thinking about her teammates, her “best friends,” and having to say goodbye to them. Barker also thought about her performance against Maryland through the lens of what it meant for others.

“I wish I had done a little bit more to send us to the Sweet 16,” Barker said. “For them.”

Barker couldn’t have done much more. That’s not an exaggeration whatsoever. She scored the most points an SEC player had ever scored in an NCAA Tournament game. Ever. She made 17 field goals on 25 attempts. She hit four 3-pointers. She grabbed eight rebounds

Barker also, in a dire moment, made three free throws with unflappable poise that looked darn near supernatural.

Sarah Ashlee Barker vs. Maryland for Alabama basketballCrimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

Alabama trailed Maryland by three with six seconds left in the first overtime. Barker had a chance to hit a 3-pointer right before the buzzer, but she didn’t. Instead, she drew a foul beyond the arc. So, Barker stepped to the free-throw line with almost no time left needing to hit all three shots to force double overtime. No pressure, right?

Before Barker stepped to the line, she walked over to teammate Karly Weathers. Barker asked Weathers to pray for her.

Lord show her if she makes these three, it’s your glory. If she misses these three, that’s how her story was written through You, and that’s how You wanted it to be.

Then Barker drained the free throws. One. Two. Three. Bring on double overtime.

The problem was, Barker was losing sidekicks, left and right. Aaliyah Nye and Zaay Green fouled out in the fourth quarter. Then Essence Cody followed suit in the second overtime. Behind Barker, those three were the Crimson Tide’s No. 2, 3 and 4 scorers.

They shared the weight together of facing a good Maryland team on the road for much of the night, but eventually, Barker’s shoulders had to bear it all. She fought until the final seconds. She scored three of Alabama’s final four buckets. Her final jumper brought the Crimson Tide back within one with 16 seconds left. But Maryland closed out the game with two free throws.

“You can’t question the why,” Barker said. “What the Lord does promise is He is going to bring us through it, and He does promise He writes our story. For whatever reason, it was Maryland’s story to go to the Sweet 16.”

Sarah Ashlee Barker vs. Maryland in NCAA Tournament. University of Alabama, Crimson Tide PhotosUniversity of Alabama, Crimson Tide Photos

That’s where it especially stings. If Alabama had won, it not only would have been the program’s first Sweet 16 appearance since 1998, but the Crimson Tide would have played the game in Birmingham, Barker’s hometown. That’s the stuff of a storybook ending to a career.

But it didn’t happen that way, even as hard as Barker tried to will it into existence. That’s not unusual, though; most athletes don’t get to leave a season or a career with a picturesque, Hollywood-type win. But most don’t get to exit with the best game of their careers either.

Most can’t say they put together a heroic performance when their teammates needed them most. Barker can.

“She’s what every little girl should aspire to be,” Curry said.

Barker can mix smiles with tears, sighs with tongue clicks, or whatever else bubbles up in the days, weeks, months and years ahead as she thinks about her last season of college basketball and the last game she wore the crimson and white. She will be able to remember for a long time how she gave it her all in a historic outing, done for each of her teammates.

Such is the weight of exiting a superhero.