Wagner's gone, Ducks move on.

Byline: Bob Rodman The Register-Guard

It was one year ago today that Oregon women's basketball guard Chelsea Wagner sustained a knee injury.

Despite the torn lateral meniscus in her left knee, Wagner finished the season.

This time around, after sustaining a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the same knee during Thursday's win over Washington at McArthur Court, Wagner's season is finished.

The Ducks announced on Friday that the 5-foot-10 junior from Springfield would be sidelined the remainder of the season.

"It hasn't really hit me yet," said Wagner, her knee enveloped in a leg-long brace as she watched her Oregon team prepare for tonight's Pac-10 game against Washington State, scheduled for a 7 o'clock start at Mac Court.

"When it happened, I knew something was seriously wrong," said Wagner, who is scheduled to undergo an MRI in a couple of weeks to determine whether there was any further damage to the knee.

The knee is expected to be surgically repaired at the end of the month or in the first week of February.

The rehabilitation process, Wagner said, should take about six months.

"I should be 100 percent a month or so before practice begins (in mid-October) next season," she said.

Wagner used her redshirt year during the 2002-03 season after transferring to Oregon from Hawaii. Because she has played in more than the allowed number of games this season, a medical hardship appeal is not possible.

"It's too late for Chelsea to redshirt but not too late to play her senior year," UO coach Bev Smith said.

"There is no question in my mind that I will play next season," Wagner said.

Wagner was having a career night in the Ducks' 86-77 win over the Huskies, converting 6-of-8 three-pointers en route to 20 points before sustaining the injury with 7:54 left in the game.

"We won the game and I hurt my knee, but I was doing my best to think that it (the injury) didn't really happen," said Wagner, considered Oregon's top defender and whose 40 field goals this season include a Pac-10 Conference-best 37 three-pointers.

For Wagner, the ACL tear is just another in a long list of medical situations that have haunted her for the past several years.

She continually deals with a chronic bad ankle, had suspected heart problems that were linked to the removal of her thyroid gland, sustained the meniscus tear in her knee and now this.

"These things just happen," Wagner said. "You know me, I'll just make the best of it."

So must the Ducks.

With an 11-4 record and a 4-2 performance in the Pac-10, Oregon is 12 conference games from the regular-season finish line. The Pac-10 tournament follows and, possibly, a postseason appearance.

How will they cope?

"We all have different roles on this team," said Kaela Chapdelaine, a redshirt freshman who started at point guard on Thursday in place of Corrie Mizusawa, benched by illness, and played 35 minutes - more than twice her average before the UW game. "We may not be the defender or the shooter Chelsea is, but we will do what we can do.

"The dynamics may change, but we will continue plowing ahead."

Smith said Mizusawa, a senior and the Pac-10 assists leader with a 7.1 average, practiced on Friday for the first time this week and is scheduled to return as the starting point guard.

Chapdelaine, who redshirted last season because of an ankle injury, is expected to move into Wagner's off-guard position - just the second start of her UO career.

"We've talked about our depth all season," Smith said, "talked about how we can weather these things when they happen."

And they have happened. Last season, the Ducks had six players miss games because of injury.

Cathrine Kraayeveld, a senior forward and the team's leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker, played in just 20 of Oregon's 57 games the last two seasons because of knee problems.

"We just have to have people step up and bring their `A' game every day," said Eleanor Haring, a sophomore forward.

The Ducks scored a season-high 86 points against the Huskies, the final 19 after Wagner had been injured.

"We have the ability to score when we need to and it showed," Smith said.

With, and now without, Wagner.

CAPTION(S):

Chelsea Wagner winces in pain after she injured her left knee during Oregon's victory over Washington on Thursday. The shooting guard from Springfield suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and will miss the rest of the season. UO WOMEN VS. WASHINGTON STATE 7 p.m. today at McArthur Court. No TV. Radio: KSCR-AM (1320).