The Red and Black

Issue date: 2/21/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: RICHARD HAMM Lady Dog Rebecca Rowsey poses for a portrait at Stegeman Coliseum. Rowsey, who is out for the season with a knee injury, has been accepted to a medical college in Tennessee. [Click to enlarge]

ROWSEY

Rebecca Rowsey stepped out onto the Lady Bulldogs' practice court for the first time Wednesday since receiving career-ending surgery to replace deteriorating cartilage in her right knee.

Peppered with excited hugs and sympathetic welcomes from her teammates, the reunion could have been an emotional event for a player whose fifth and final year in Athens was abruptly curtailed.

But Rowsey was all smiles.

For the first time, she got an impression of the role she will play for the rest of the No. 24 Lady Bulldogs' season - a lot of watching.

"It's frustrating to have to sit and listen to a game," Rowsey said. "It'll be hard to sit and watch without getting to participate, but it will be better to be there."

Rowsey is no stranger to being there for her team despite her body's refusal to cooperate.

As a freshman, she started in an Elite Eight contest against LSU and is the only current Lady Bulldog to make it that far in the NCAA tournament.

Rowsey started every game of her sophomore season, crowned by a performance she remembers as her best in a Lady Bulldogs' uniform: she tallied eight points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, including a game-sealing block with 12 seconds remaining in a 70-68 victory over Texas.

"That was the last time I played healthy," Rowsey said. She missed the entirety of the 2005-06 season due to an ACL injury and struggled through her redshirt junior and senior seasons before playing her final game on Feb. 10.

"Most of us knew that (Arkansas and LSU) were my last two games," Rowsey said. "It was good to know that I was going to play one more time, but it was emotional at LSU knowing it would be my last game. I was able to soak it all in."

Rowsey, hoping to help her team prepare for a playoff run, will be behind the bench as the Lady Bulldogs host Auburn on Sunday at 2 p.m.

For Rowsey, however, her time spent at Georgia always has extended beyond the basketball court.

She has used her fifth year in Athens to add a religion major alongside her biology degree and has maintained a 3.7 GPA. In the fall, Rowsey will move to Memphis to begin medical school at the University of Tennessee Graduate School of Medicine.

Rowsey also is a three-time member of the SEC's Community Service Team for women's basketball, highlighted by two medical mission trips over the past two summers to Costa Rica and Panama.

"It gives me something to look forward to," Rowsey said. "I know that medicine is what I want to do, and those trips reinforce that. It's sad that basketball's over, but I've got something to work toward."

Before entering medical school, Rowsey has one major task ahead of her.

Though she will have to wait six to eight weeks before putting weight on her right leg, Rowsey will walk down the aisle on June 21 when she marries her fiancé, Dave Desso, a former Lady Bulldogs practice player.

While mindful of her dwindling time in a Lady Bulldogs' jersey, her future plans have allowed Rowsey to keep a grounded perspective of her injury.

"I'm definitely on good terms with everything," she said. "What are you going to do about it?"

With a dual degree, medical school and a husband within reach, Rowsey's smiles make more sense than tears.

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