By Ben Dickison, Back Page Editor

When Xavier women’s basketball head coach Billi Chambers set out to find a seat at the table as one of the Big East’s premier programs, she knew she would need to find three leaders with formidable arsenals of skill. More importantly, she needed to find players who could establish a culture that recruits would want to be a part of. 

Chambers seemed to have found her three Musketeers on this year’s roster: Tae’lor Purvis, Loren Christie and Jordan Miller. The Musketeers will take on the DePaul Blue Demons today at 4 p.m. in their Big East Tournament opener. From here on out, these three Musketeers, all graduate students and team captains, will enter the contest with the potential of playing their last game in a Xavier uniform.

Purvis is a point guard from Houston and has played two seasons as a Musketeer after starting her career at the University of Houston. Purvis sees her role not only as one of the Big East’s premier on-ball defenders, averaging 2.1 steals per game, but also as someone who emphasizes the importance of small details when building a winning culture. 

Purvis reflects in particular on her time with first-year point guard Meri Kanerva, who now leads the Musketeers in scoring at 10.7 points per game. 

“When Meri got here, we knew she would be our point guard,” Purvis said. “So I took her under my wing and helped her understand why she needed to be one of our vocal leaders, not just our scoring leader.”

Coach Chambers praised the selfless nature of Purvis, saying she embodies the idea that the Musketeers do not sacrifice culture for anything.

Miller emphasized the standard of accountability to the winning culture she and her fellow captains are working to build. 

“In practice, whether or not someone is going to play in the game, we make sure to tell them to hold their follow through, to remain in a defensive stance,” Miller said 

Miller joined the roster after spending her first three years of collegiate athletics as a Penguin on the Youngstown State University lacrosse team. She was part of the first women’s lacrosse team in Youngstown State history and transferred to Xavier to be on the first women’s lacrosse team in school history. 

Coach Chambers recalls her inability to contain a smile, and even giddy laughter, when Miller came into her office to pitch her idea of walking on. Miller said Chambers offered her a student manager role upon their first meeting, which she respectfully declined, then explained the lessons she learned as a member of the foundation of two Division I lacrosse programs. 

“My commitment to this, my mission… it comes in the locker room,” Chambers said, recalling what Miller told her. 

Chambers described a vivid feeling, at that moment, that Miller was the right person to be the last puzzle piece on the roster.

Lastly, Christie comes to Xavier after stints at the University of Buffalo from 2019-2022 and subsequently at the University of San Francisco for the 2022-23 season. She is a consistent starter for the Musketeers this season after being sidelined last season with a shoulder injury. The 6’1’’ native of London, England leads the Musketeers in rebounding, made free throws and blocks. Christie also ranks second in scoring and fourth in assists on the team.

Christie and Chambers arrived at Xavier together, prior to the 2023-24 season. Chambers said she would have never imagined leaving the East Coast for any job and Christie never would have imagined herself in Cincinnati, Ohio. Both of them however, have found great pride in representing Xavier in the Crosstown Shootout; Christie said the intensity of the rivalry with the University of Cincinnati is unparalleled by any experience she’s had in her career. 

“The community is just behind us in such a unique way,” Christie said. “I can walk into Starbucks and people will tell me what we need to do to win our next game. Everyone here is just so friendly.”

This year’s Musketeers notably returned to competitiveness in the Big East, defeating Butler at home to break a two-year Big East losing streak. Chambers and company are building the winning culture she seeks, in large part thanks to these three captains. 

“We haven’t seen what we’ve wanted in terms of numbers on the board, but this team works. They are meeting that standard. This group is bought into playing for each other and I think that foundation will take us a long way,” Chambers said.