<
>

Arizona's Lauren Ware out for season with knee injury

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Arizona forward Lauren Ware will miss the 2022-23 season with a right knee injury, leaving the 19th-ranked Wildcats without one of their three returning starters.

Arizona announced Friday that Ware suffered a second patellar dislocation during a workout in August and elected to have it surgically repaired.

Ware originally injured her knee during a game against North Dakota State last December and missed four games.

Arizona coach Adia Barnes said Ware was injured after banging knees with a teammate during a workout. She had been rehabilitating the injury in hopes of playing this season before meeting with the school medical staff and deciding on surgery.

The 6-foot-5 Ware averaged 5.7 points and 4.2 rebounds last season.

Arizona, which saw some roster changes in the offseason due to graduation and the transfer portal, is expected to challenge Stanford in the Pac-12.

ESPN's Alexa Philippou and The Associated Press contributed to this report.