Alumni from previous women’s basketball teams gathered together on Sat., Feb. 8, as the Setters took a 65-49 loss against American International College.
Though Pace was unable to get a win, the alumni reunion gave these women a chance to catch up with old friends, while getting a chance to see the new chapter of basketball at Pace.
“I always enjoy coming back,” said Jennifer DiMaggio, a 1988 Pace graduate who was inducted into the Pace Hall of Fame back in 1997. “It’s great to see the people you played with and the people you played for.”
Taylor Losey, who stayed at Pace for two years as an assistant graduate after graduating in 2010, sees alumni day as a chance “to come back and bond with those people that you share so many memories with.”
“It’s great to spend some time with old friends who were a part of that success,” Losey said, who led the NE-10 Conference with 87% in free throws during her junior year in the 2008-2009 season.
One of those memories includes her entire senior year at Pace, in which the team ended up qualifying for a spot in the NCAA Division II Tournament Northeast Regional.
“Towards the end of my career, that final season was really probably the happiest time for me,” Losey said. “We had a lot of setbacks in the beginning, lot of injuries; we didn’t really have much of a bench. But we were a resilient group, and we fought hard until we got that qualifying spot in the NCAA Division II Tournament.”
DiMaggio helped lead her team to two NCAA Tournament appearances back in the 1984-1985 and 1985-1986 seasons, with the 1984-1985 season seeing Pace grab an NCAA East Regional Title.
“We had a lot of success during my time here, we had a lot of wins,” said DiMaggio, who helped lead Pace to a 96-26 record during her four years at Pace.
It’s gotten harder for DiMaggio to return to Pace, since she now currently resides in New Jersey, but it’s always something she hopes to do.
“I used to be able to come every year, I spent eight years living in the area, I was an assistant coach for that time,” said DiMaggio, who has the most career points in school history with 2,125 as well as most career rebounds with 1,254. “It was a great experience I really enjoyed being a part of the program here and being able to coach kids and be a part of the student life, but now it’s gotten harder to come back.”
Losey’s experiences at Pace have helped her in her current occupation as an instructor for the YMCA near her home in Cheshire, New Jersey.
“I love working with kids and my time at Pace really has given me a lot to pull from for my current job,” Losey said.