DiNucci reaches basketball career milestone

Emerson women’s basketball forward Olivia DiNucci ’13 reached a career milestone last month, scoring her 1,000th point in a game against Ohio-Eastern. She was also named Great Northeast Athletic Conference’s (GNAC) Player of the Week for her accomplishment.

Junior Olivia DiNucci recently scored her 1,000th point with Emerson women's basketball team.

DiNucci is the third woman in Emerson women’s basketball history to reach 1,000 points and the first to achieve it during her junior year, a “huge accomplishment” in the realm of college basketball. The 5’10” Pittsburgh native is a force to be reckoned with on the court. She has scored on average about 16 points in each game she has played. “She can just score like it’s her job,” said women’s basketball coach Bill Gould.

Gould, who is in his fifth year as coach, has watched DiNucci progress since recruiting her during her junior year of high school. DiNucci’s consistent skill is rare and impressive, Gould said.

Athletics Director Kristin Parnell agreed. “To play at such a consistent level when there are so many academic demands on you and to be able to focus and achieve this milestone is a very hard thing to do.”

DiNucci’s friend, teammate, and co-captain Amy Sherman has also seen DiNucci progress since they played together their freshman year. Sherman said her first impression of DiNucci was that she could shoot; in fact, she scored 30 points her first game, becoming an instant leader on the team.

Besides DiNucci’s athletic talent, she also has a genuine passion for making the world around her a better place. Gould said DiNucci always impresses him with how aware and interested she is in what’s going on in Boston and the world. Sherman said DiNucci is one of the most big-hearted people she knows. “She is always striving to get better and make those around her better,” Sherman said.

DiNucci’s other extracurricular activities include working with Best Buddies at Emerson and interning at the United Nations Association of Greater Boston. She hopes to someday use the Political Communication degree she is working toward to do some kind of international work.

While she is proud that her name is listed twice on the banner in Emerson’s gym—once for Rookie of the Year in 2010 and once for her recent 1,000-point accomplishment—what she really wants is the whole team up there with her. “The one thing that’s missing [from the banner] is GNAC champs,” she said. She hopes the best game of her career is yet to come, the game in which Emerson women’s basketball wins the GNAC championship.

DiNucci will play in the last home game of the season February 18 at 12:00 pm.