Jenny Moshak, assistant athletics director for sports medicine, said “After episodes of pain, swelling and dysfunction over the course of this past season, Cait had surgery today to address those issues. Dr. Greg Mathien and Dr. Russ Betcher, UT team orthopaedists, performed surgery on Cait’s right knee this morning at the UT Medical Center.
“Her surgery involved repairing a lesion on her articular cartilage.”
Cait McMahan, suffered a bone bruise to her right knee on Sept. 19, 2006, and had arthroscopic surgery on Oct. 20, 2006. The October surgery was “a debridement of loose bodies in the joint and a smoothing out of the articular cartilage.” At that time, Moshak indicated, “we anticipate that additional surgery could be required.”
The 5'4 guard from Maryville, Tenn., starts rehabilitating the knee immediately but will be out for the 2007-08 season. Previously, McMahan tore the anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee on Nov. 29, 2005, while playing at Heritage High School.
This past season, McMahan played in 35 games and earned one starting assignment. She averaged 2.4 ppg, 1.2 rpg and 1.4 apg while logging almost 14 minutes per contest. Her enthusiasm throughout the season was cited by her teammates, especially at the Final Four, where Tennessee won the 2007 national title.
McMahan opted to play this season despite the pain so that her mother, Teresa McMahan, would have the opportunity to see her fulfill a lifelong dream of being a Lady Vol. Teresa McMahan died May 29 after a lengthy battle with cancer and was buried in Maryville on May 31.