Brea's Hartman out for season with knee injury
The junior plans to have surgery to repair her torn ACL.
BREA OLINDA - The Brea Olinda girls basketball team rolled to a 70-24 victory over Fairfax of Los Angeles in pool play of the Ladycat Classic on Tuesday at Brea Olinda High.
The defending CIF-SS Division II-AA champion and State Division II champion Ladycats (2-0) played without All-County center Justine Hartman, who will not play this season because of a torn ACL and associated cartilage damage in her right knee.
Hartman, a 6-foot-2 junior, said she will have surgery sometime within the next two months, but no date has been set. She plans to be back for her senior season.
“If there was any way I could play, I would,” said Hartman, who averaged 15 points and seven rebounds a game last season. “But it hurts … I need surgery.”
Hartman practiced during the first few weeks of the season but had not seen game action.
Coach Jeff Sink and assistant coach Steve Steele both acknowledged that losing Hartman for the entire season was a blow to the team.
“Nobody can pick up that slack,” Steele said.
Sink said Hartman played all last season with the injury, but her family didn't want to risk further damage.
"She might have been able to keep playing," Sink said, "but getting the knee fixed now is the right thing to do."
-Staff writer Steve Fryer contributed to this report.
