Purcell lives dream in Beijing

Competing in the Olympics has always been a goal for Natalie Purcell.

Suffice to say the former Southeast Missouri State women's basketball player is currently living out a dream.

Purcell, who played at Southeast during the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, is participating in the Beijing Games for her native New Zealand. She is believed to be the first Southeast product to compete in an Olympics.

Purcell and the Tall Ferns — the name the New Zealand national team goes by — are 1-1 so far in Beijing, beating Mali 76-72 on Friday and losing to Spain 85-62 on Sunday.

The Tall Ferns still have three more Group B games remaining as they try to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.

"I have always wanted to play in the Olympics," Purcell said in an e-mail from Beijing. "It's been a great experience so far."

Purcell, a 6-foot forward, has come off the bench for New Zealand in its first two games at the Olympics. She had five points and six rebounds in 20 minutes of action during Friday's victory over Mali, then did not score or grab a rebound while playing eight minutes during Sunday's loss to Spain.

Purcell has been competing for the New Zealand national team since graduating from Southeast in 2007, but that did not guarantee her a spot on the Tall Ferns' roster for the Olympics. When she found out last month she had been selected, she was elated.

"I definitely didn't expect it, but it is the main reason I returned [to New Zealand after leaving Southeast]," said Purcell, who contemplated remaining in the U.S. to work on her masters, but instead decided to shoot for the Olympics.

Purcell, who earned a business management degree from Southeast in May 2007, has enjoyed being something of a world traveler since returning to her native land.

"Actually, I got back from the States on a Monday, and that Thursday was on a plane to Japan to play in my first international game," she said. "Since then I have been playing in tours and tournaments with the national team as a buildup to the Olympics.

"It's been really good, and I've got to see a bit of the world. Since playing on the national team I have been to Japan, China three times, Czech, Spain, Italy, United Kingdom and other European countries."

During the offseason for international play, Purcell competed for a New Zealand team in the Australian League, which is considered semi-professional. She also has been working part time to make ends meet since returning home last year.

As an added bonus, the 25-year-old Purcell is competing at the Olympics with her older sister. Charmian Purcell, 29, starts at small forward, while Natalie comes off the bench at the same spot.

"Playing in the Olympics is the first time we have played with each other in years," Purcell said. "We've always been in different countries, and when I came back last year she tore her ACL in our first game against Japan.

"Since then she has been rehabbing, so funnily enough, this has been our first games together. But it is great to be able to be at the Olympics together."

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 in June 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 started on both those teams after transferring from junior college.

Purcell said she heard about the penalties shortly after they were announced.

"I was really guttered and quite disappointed. We worked really hard to achieve those really successful years. They were possibly the hardest years of my life, and to have those achievements stripped from us really hurt," Purcell said. "As a group of girls we were so unified and focused on achieving what had never been attained at SEMO. We were determined to put SEMO on the map for women's basketball and create a really strong tradition that carried on for years.

"Its really unfortunate that as a team we were reprimanded in such a way. I feel that we deserved all the success we worked towards and the penalty of removing that from us was quite harsh."

Still, Purcell said she takes pride in what she and her former Southeast teammates accomplished. She is also pleased that the winning has continued for the Redhawks, who have earned two more OVC regular-season titles and another NCAA tournament appearance since that landmark 2005-06 season.

"Of course I do. Despite what has now been written, we made a difference and hopefully started what will continue on," she said. "And I'm happy that the girls were able to carry on what we began back then."

Regardless of the NCAA ruling, Purcell said she still relishes her days at Southeast.

"I really did enjoy my time there. SEMO was great and I had a really good experience at an American college," she said.

As far as the Olympics, New Zealand — considered a longshot for a medal — continues with Group B play Wednesday against host China, Thursday against European power Czech Republic and Sunday against world No. 1 United States. The quarterfinals are Aug. 19.

"Our main goal is to get out of pool play and make the quarterfinals," Purcell said. "It requires us to beat two teams. We have a really tough pool, so it won't be easy."