Close loss or embarrassing blowout, Kansas University women’s basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson always takes the podium afterward, poised and confident, and tells it like it is.

It was a visibly shaken Henrickson who followed KU football coach Mark Mangino to the podium to address the media with sad news Tuesday about the highest-rated recruit Henrickson has brought to Kansas.

“After having been excited about Late Night for about 48 hours, one hour into practice on Sunday, Angel Goodrich tore her ACL, so we are without her services,” Henrickson said. “She’ll have surgery next week. She’ll redshirt and will be a redshirt freshman for us next year.”

The injury occurred to Goodrich’s left knee while she was executing a cross-over dribble in practice, according to her coach.

Goodrich, a 5-foot-4 point guard from Tahlequah, Okla., turned down a scholarship offer from Oklahoma to come to Kansas as Henrickson’s most heralded recruit because she said she wanted to go to a place where she could play a big part in turning around a program.

Goodrich showed during a Late Night intrasquad scrimmage why there has been such a fuss over her game with a quick drive to the hoop for one bucket and a running shot from the right wing for another and a general comfort with running a team stocked with veterans.

At women’s basketball Media Day, the addition of Goodrich became the central topic of conversation, which didn’t seem to bother the returning players who expressed excitement at what she could do for the team.

“At Media Day, I said I wouldn’t hide my excitement for what I thought she could do for our program and I’m not going to try to hide my disappointment for her personally and how difficult that is,” Henrickson said. “And obviously in our program we’re disappointed for her, but we’ve got returning players who are better and we’ll regroup and refocus and commit to not changing our goals. For some it’s an opportunity, a door that opened and for others it’s having to be asked to do a little bit more and our kids are ready to do that.”

Senior Ivana Catic and junior LaChelda Jacobs will split time at point guard for the Jayhawks.

Henrickson said that Goodrich became the third Big 12 point guard this school year to suffer a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament, the others being from Texas A&M and Colorado.

“Unfortunately, it’s an epidemic in women’s basketball,” said Henrickson, who praised the abilities of Dr. Jeff Randall, the same orthopedist who performed Brandon Rush’s ACL surgery.

ACL injuries reportedly are up to eight times more common in college basketball for women than men.