Beyond the Hedges 1/3/2013: Happy New Year, 'Dogs!

Head gymnastics coach Danna Durante begins her inaugural season at the helm this Saturday, 5 January, as the pre-season No. 11 Gym Dogs host No. 4 Oklahoma in Stegeman Coliseum. The meet begins at 4:00 p.m., and tickets are available at georgiadogs.com, $10.00 for adults and $6.00 for youth. There may not be a better way to ease the transition from a 12-2 football campaign into the long off-season than to head to Athens and join the crowd to cheer on the women as they defy nature with feats of strength and agility. If you can't make the trip, georgiadogs.com will stream live video, and CSS will replay the meet on 8 January at 9:00 p.m. We here at Dawg Sports are awfully fond of gymnastics, so be sure to check back for more in-depth coverage of the upcoming meet and season.

Tonight in women's basketball, the Lady Bulldogs prepare to bounce back from their first loss of the season by welcoming Mizzou to the SEC. The last time UGA faced Missouri, the Tigers bounced the Bulldogs from the NCAA tournament in 2001. Let's hope the new conference relationship starts off appropriately with a Georgia win. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. at Stegeman, and as part of the ongoing observation of the Coliseum's 50th anniversary, the first 2,000 fans will receive a commemorative pennant. That's tempting. Seriously. SEC play continues on Sunday in Knoxville against the always formidable Lady Vols.

In men's and women's swimming and diving, the divers are in Knoxville today through Saturday for the Tennessee Diving Invitational. The field of 15 teams includes seven from the SEC: joining UT and UGA are Bama, Auburn, Kentucky, LSU, and Mizzou. Competition begins at 11:00 this morning with live results available via this handy link.

It's fixin' to get busy around here, folks. Tennis, equestrian, and indoor track action will be under way before the first month of 2013 is behind us. Georgia sports don't stop with the bowl win, and neither does Dawg Sports.

GO DAWGS!