You wouldn’t think it, but sometimes having a steel rod buried in your chest can just be the greatest thing.

Confirm that with Virginia Beach’s Liz Hickey before you scoff.

I mean, one day Hickey is a pretty good Bishop Sullivan High basketball player with talent but zero stamina, who can barely make it through an entire eight-minute quarter without a rest.

Then one day four years later – her surgically implanted rod having worked its wonders – she’s leaving the University of Mary Washington not only with a math degree but also with the title of the most prolific shot blocker Division III women’s hoops has ever seen.

All that took heart, that’s for sure – in Hickey’s case, a heart that required special protection from a collapsing rib cage.

A congenital condition called pectus excavatum, essentially a sunken chest, was straining Hickey’s heart and lungs as she grew, to where fatigue on the court was a constant factor because she couldn’t breathe deeply.

That’s where a surgery session with Norfolk’s Dr. Donald Nuss reversed her course. Years ago, Nuss invented a less invasive procedure than had been in use to correct pectus excavatum.

Hickey became a recipient of Nuss’ handiwork before her freshman year at Mary Washington when a steel bar was inserted horizontally beneath her sternum to push and hold her breastbone out.

“It’s like braces,” said Hickey, a 6-foot-3, three-time All-American who graduates Saturday with 509 blocked shots on her athletic resume. “Once your ribs reset, they take the bar out. I had mine for about three years.”

It was removed last summer, and Hickey went on to close her career by helping the Eagles win 31 times and reach the NCAA tournament’s round of 16, a year after they finished third in the country.

That wrapped a journey that began, surprisingly, with a flourish. Only months after her surgery, Hickey worked her way into good enough shape to play as a freshman sub and reject 104 shots.

At the time, that total not only set a school record for a season but also for a career.

“I was kind of shocked how it was so much easier to breathe,” Hickey said. “Catching up to everybody freshman year was really difficult, but once I did, it was actually easier for me.”

Intimidating defense was never a chore for Hickey, who scored 1,370 points with 938 rebounds in college. Her shot-blocking success was fueled by a height advantage over most opponents, the intricacies of Mary Washington’s defensive scheme, and the critical self-awareness to let opportunities come rather than forcing them and drawing fouls instead of leather.

As for leaping ability, um, that wasn’t quite part of the formula.

“I don’t really jump well at all,” Hickey said with a laugh, “so I’ll say timing” was more important.

Now Hickey gets to learn if she can mentor the art of rejection. She plans to attend graduate school and pair it with a grad-assistant coaching spot at a to-be-determined Division III school.

“The only thing I worry about is whether I can teach someone to do it,” Hickey said. “I definitely understood the principals of help-side defense and working as a team, because one-on-one I’m probably a little slower than most post players in Division III.”

Few, though, achieved more in the last four years.

“I think the thing was I happened to be on a good team, so we played a lot more games than most people do in a career,” Hickey said. “I also never had a serious injury. I never missed a game in my career.”

Yet one more accolade Hickey graduates with, pinned to her chest.

Tom Robinson, (757) 446-2518, tom.robinson@pilotonline.com [1]