Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Heading into the title game of the Horizon League’s women’s tournament Tuesday, Michal Miller has added a new affliction to a body that already is something a medical melange.
The Wright State junior guard wears a clear plastic mask affixed with black straps across her face to prevent suffering more damage to her already battered nose.
She’s broken it twice, most recently in a game against Michigan State this season and before that when she was playing in a pick-up game while at the University of Arizona a couple of years ago. Already the cartilage is collapsed over her nasal passages and her septum is deviated and that makes breathing difficult.
That also explains the breathing strip she wears over her nostrils during games and the sinus rinses she does each night at home.
“I squirt this solution up by nose and it comes out in my mouth,” she said shaking her head. “It’s really uncomfortable.”
Then there is the padded white sleeve she wears over her tender right elbow.
“I fell in our Pink Game this year and landed on my elbow,” she said. “I was wearing the sleeve on my left arm for an old injury so I just moved it over to my right.”
And when she’s not on the basketball court, Miller often wears a protective boot on one foot.
Her chronic foot problems are so severe there are some days she can barely walk in the morning. It’s why WSU coach Katrina Merriweather must limit her minutes in games because her feet get sorer and sorer the more minutes she plays.
As for that new ailment?
A chip on the shoulder.
