Former Redhawk to play in Olympics

Former Southeast Missouri State women's basketball player Natalie Purcell will compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Purcell, a 6-foot forward who played for Southeast during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, earlier this week was named to the New Zealand team that qualified for next month's Beijing Games.

Purcell was the second-leading scorer -- averaging 11.7 points per game -- on the 2005-06 Southeast squad that won the program's first Ohio Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles and made the program's first NCAA Division I tournament appearance.

But last month an NCAA ruling took away those two OVC titles and NCAA tournament berth as part of the penalties handed down for NCAA rules violations in the Southeast women's basketball program during former coach B.J. Smith's four-year tenure.

Southeast was forced to vacate its 44 wins from the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, making the Redhawks officially 0-8 and 0-9 those two years, instead of 22-8 and 22-9. Purcell was a starter on both of those squads.

The 25-year-old Purcell, who has been playing professionally in her native New Zealand, will be joined on her country's Olympic team by her older sister Charmian, who is 29.

New Zealand, considered a longshot for a medal, will play its opening game at the Beijing Olympics against Mali on Aug. 9 before further group B games against host China, world No. 1 United States and European powers Spain and Czech Republic.