Rice out for the season

In what amounted to horrible news for the Nevada Lady Tigers Tuesday afternoon, sophomore post Lindsay Rice was found to have re-injured the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee during exploratory surgery.

The ACL was discovered to be torn, along with the meniscus in the knee, and both were repaired during Tuesday's operation. The meniscus tear was expected, and it generally takes about three to six weeks to recover from. The ligament tear will more than quadruple the time needed for Rice to recover.

It is the same ligament Rice had repaired in January of 2005. The varsity starter originally injured the knee in a game at Carthage during her freshman year. She had the knee repaired and underwent a grueling six-month recovery process. Rice was healthy enough to start this season, wearing a heavy brace on her left knee.

The knee gave out during practice recently, but doctors didn't believe the ligament had torn again. They performed the exploratory surgery Tuesday to find out exactly what caused the knee to give.

Rice is the second Nevada starter to be lost for the season with an ACL tear.