"Drs. Greg Mathien and Russell Betcher, UT team orthopedists, performed surgery on Vicki’s left knee this afternoon,” Moshak said Tuesday. “The surgery addressed the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction of her knee.”
According to Moshak, Baugh’s surgery went well, and she will begin normal ACL rehabilitation of the knee immediately.
Baugh, a 6'4 rookie from Sacramento, Calif., made some key plays in the NCAA title game versus Stanford. With a little more than seven minutes to play, Baugh’s slashing-through-the-key layup gave the Lady Vols a double-digit lead (55-44) that they would not relinquish down the stretch en route to NCAA Championship number eight.
Unfortunately for Baugh, that was the play when the injury occurred to her left knee. Against Stanford, she scored eight points and recorded four rebounds in 13 minutes of action. On April 11, an MRI confirmed that Baugh had torn her ACL.
"As a freshman, Vicki played a significant role for our basketball team,” said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt. “Some of her key contributions came in the six games during our national championship run and in the SEC title game – things were really starting to come together for her and it’s just so unfortunate that she suffered a torn ACL.
“I’m excited about Vicki’s future…The knee will be a setback but I know she’ll come back stronger and more determined than ever."
Baugh said she intended to remain in Knoxville this summer in order to devote her time to rehab in an attempt to be ready to play in the 2008-09 season.
During her freshman season, Baugh played in all 38 games, helping the Lady Vols to a 36-2 record. She averaged 5.3 ppg and 4.0 rpg in 13.1 minutes per contest. She shot a team best 55.2 percent from the field (79-143) and knocked in 77.8 percent of her charity tosses. She recorded six games in double-digits scoring including a season high 12 point effort versus Purdue in the NCAA Tournament. Baugh had a monster game on the boards against Louisiana Tech hauling in 16 rebounds.