This (sadly) just in from the UGA Sports Communications Office:

ATHENS, GA. — Christy Marshall (pictured), a returning starter for the Georgia Lady Bulldogs, has torn the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her right knee and will miss the 2009-10 season.

Marshall, a 6-1, senior guard from Savannah, GA., injured her knee in a team workout on Wednesday, two days before the official opening of practice. The ACL tear was later confirmed through an MRI.

“It rips my guts out every time a kid falls and grabs their knee,” head coach Andy Landers said. “It’s an all-too-common injury in women’s basketball. My heart goes out to Christy. We’re all in a state of shock at this point.”

Marshall started 21 of 31 games played for Georgia in 2008-09, averaging 8.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. For her career, she has played in 95 games with 28 starts and produced averages of 7.7 points and 3.6 rebounds. In 2007, Marshall was named the SEC Sixth Woman of the Year by league coaches.

In addition, freshman Tamika Willis will miss the beginning of the season due to personal reasons but is expected to join the team at some point during the campaign.

Willis, a 6-2, forward from College Park, GA., was a three-time All-State performer at Westlake High School who was ranked as the nation’s No. 34 overall prospect by the Collegiate Girls Basketball Report.

(Photo courtesy of Georgia Sports Communications)

[IMPORTANT: Please note that under current NCAA Athletic Compliance regulations, fans/boosters are NOT permitted to send "get well soon" cards or messages to current student-athletes.]

Yay! The food was on time this year! Our Lady Bulldog players took center stage at this year’s Fastbreak Club Pre-Season BBQ and the result was a laugh-filled night that recalled how Kim Thompson used to commandeer the microphone and leave the crowd in stitches back in the day. Based on the tales told and the subsequent non-stop laughter that reverberated through Flinchum’s Phoenix last Tuesday night, it looks like we may have a whole team of K.T.s this season!

Just one word of advice for Coach:  Keep ‘em off the scooters.

Congratulations and thanks to Fastbreak Club President William Springer and the rest of the board of officers for a memorable tip-off to another season of Fastbreaking fun. Below are some photos from the evening’s festivities. (Special thanks to fellow Fastbreaker and good pal Bill Zachmann for his photographic contributions. His pics are the ones that are well-lit, focused, and basically look like they were taken by someone who actually knows what they’re doing…)