UTC center Faith Dupree likely out 10 weeks

photo Faith Dupree
Arkansas-Oklahoma State Live Blog

The bad news for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga center Faith Dupree is that she won't be playing for a while. The good news the 6-foot-3 junior received from her doctor Monday was that she may be able to return to the court this season.

Dupree suffered a torn MCL and sprained knee in the Lady Mocs' win against East Tennessee State last Saturday. She's on crutches and will be out at least 10 weeks, but Dupree said she was elated that the injury wasn't more serious.

"When I first hurt it, of course I was upset and thought the worst," Dupree said following UTC's practice Monday. "I thought I was done and my ACL was gone too, probably, so getting the better news gave me a little bit better attitude about it."

Dupree will be with the Lady Mocs (3-0) when they leave today for the Thanksgiving Classic at St. Mary's College near San Francisco. She said she promised her teammates that she'd do her best to be back in time for the postseason.

Ashlen Dewart, another 6-3 center, likely will take over in the starting lineup and coach Wes Moore will have to shuffle the rest of his post rotation. The good news for him is that UTC will get to play two games without Dupree before beginning Southern Conference play on Nov. 29 against Wofford.

"My minister spoke yesterday about how you can look at the down side of things or you can look and find the good spot in things," Moore said. "It was a very timely message for me."

Contact John Frierson at jfrierson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6268. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/mocsbeatCTFP.

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