During the wedding of a fellow 2003 classmate, Julie Badertscher, Jane Scheffsky and Lisa Walroth had a moment of clarity. Realizing they saw each other only during friends’ nuptials, they decided to plan an unofficial weekend reunion around a men’s basketball game. The three set a date—Nov. 18-20—to coincide with Thanksgiving vacation plans and set to work reserving hotel rooms, purchasing basketball tickets, designing T-shirts and, of course, inviting friends.

You might say they were perfectly cast to plan the reunion: Badertscher works as an event coordinator in New York, Scheffsky is a sales and catering assistant in Indianapolis and Walroth is a program coordinator at a boys’ correction facility in Cincinnati.

About 50 people—some flying in from as far away as Los Angeles and New York—arrived at their hotel rooms to find bags filled with bottled water, snacks, aspirin, an itinerary and other goodies. On Friday night, the 2003 crew crowded into the top floor of Dana’s to catch up with one another before donning their souvenir T-shirts and heading to the game on Saturday night.

“Everyone was really appreciative and we are definitely going to make this an annual activity,” Badertscher says. “We are really proud of the outcome and hope that it will encourage more alumni to get together and support Xavier.”