BRADFORD, Pa. – Ali Rinfrette stepped to the free-throw line like she had so many times before, except this would be much different than any first-quarter free-throw she had shot in her entire career.
The same way she did in December when she became Pitt-Bradford women's basketball's All-Time leading scorer, the Bradford native sunk the free-ball to register her 2,000th career point – the first in the program's history.
"Ali is amazing," Head Coach Sharay Hall said. "She is a phenomenal athlete who works so hard for us and she wants it so bad. She is a leader for us and she gets the job done."
Rinfrette's historic point came as part of a 67-59 victory for the Panthers in their final regular season home game at the KOA Arena over Penn State-Altoona.
The victory put the Panthers at 10-7 in AMCC games, keeping them in the upper echelon of the conference with just one game left before playoffs.
"Transition buckets were huge for us today. We had to run the floor," Hall said. "Once we did that and tired them out, we started to pull away. Even though they came back a bit, we had gone up too much to where we were able to hold on."
Jennifer Isenberg put together the top performance on the court in the victory, matching her career-high of 25 points while also grabbing 16 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season.
Rinfrette also cashed in a double-double with 16 points and 12 boards while adding four assists and three steals.
The game could not have started any better for Pitt-Bradford.
Isenberg scored nine quick points to help the Panthers to a commanding 13-0 lead to start the contest.
Altoona answered with six-straight points before Rinfrette cashed in her 2,000th point, which gave Pitt-Bradford a 14-6 lead with three minutes to go in the quarter.
One more layup from Isenberg in the closing seconds of the first quarter gave the Panthers an 18-12 lead into the second.
Isenberg scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting and 3-4 from the free-throw line in the first quarter.
Altoona found its form in the second, though, outscoring Pitt-Bradford 15-10 in the period.
Each team made five field goals in the quarter but the five Altoona free-throws were the difference as the Lions tightened the gap to just one Panther point, and the two teams went into the break with Pitt-Bradford holding a 28-27 lead.
Pitt-Bradford came out in the third and put together its best quarter of the game.
Isenberg scored six points in the period on three field goals, and Rinfrette and Bri Wells added five apiece to power the Panthers to 24 points.
Pitt-Bradford's defense held Altoona to a 4-18 mark from the field for 13 points in the quarter, and the Panthers took their 52-40 lead into the closing period.
Altoona battled back, though.
Down 10 points with four minutes left, a layup followed by an "and-one" quickly cut the Panther lead to just five points.
But the Panthers connected on buckets when they needed to, with Shaelyn Snipes and Rinfrette coming through with field goals down the stretch to help the Panthers hold on for the 67-59 victory.
The Panthers' perimeter defense was perfect, holding Altoona to an 0-12 mark on three-point field goals.
Pitt-Bradford dominated the glass, grabbing 56 rebounds to Altoona's 42.
The Panthers also forced 23 turnovers and grabbed 14 steals led by three apiece from Rinfrette, Isenberg and Wells.
Up next, the Panthers will head to Pitt-Greensburg for the final game of the 2017-18 regular season.