DES MOINES, Iowa -- Iowa junior guard Jaime Printy, the team's leading scorer, will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder said Friday that Printy tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee in an 85-79 win over Wisconsin on Thursday night.
Printy, who tore the same ligament as a sophomore in high school, is set to have surgery within the next two weeks and is expected to return for the 2012-13 season.
"We are extremely disappointed to lose Jaime for the rest of the season," Bluder said. "It's very unfortunate that she has to go through another ACL injury. Jaime is one of the elite players in our conference, and it's tough to see this type of injury happen to such a great individual."
Printy's injury is a major blow for a team whose hopes for a fifth straight NCAA tournament trip were slim to begin with.
Printy, a native of nearby Marion, Iowa, was an honorable mention All-America pick by The Associated Press in 2010-11. She was averaging 16.9 points a game this season and also leads the Hawkeyes in assists. Printy ranks 10th in career scoring at Iowa with 1,409 points, third with 197 3-pointers and sixth with 304 assists.
Iowa (13-10, 5-5 Big Ten) plays at Indiana on Sunday in search of its third straight win.
"It feels like our team is really hitting its stride right now and it's going to be really hard to watch the rest of the season from the bench," Printy said. "But, I'm ready to help the team in any way I can from the sidelines and am looking forward to watching my teammates continue to play well."
