Ali Rinfrette recorded a game-high 24 points, two other players scored in double-figures, and the Pitt-Bradford women's basketball team won its third straight game Wednesday night, routing D'Youville, 79-50.
After surrendering 16 first-quarter points, the Panthers turned up the defensive pressure over the final 30 minutes to turn a four-point contest into a blowout.
Leading by one early in the second quarter, Brittany Watts led Pitt-Bradford on a 12-3 scoring run to build a 32-22 advantage. Watts accounted for eight of the 12 points, including the last four, and she scored all 12 of her points in the opening half.
A D'Youville three-pointer trimmed the lead to 32-27, but the Panthers clamped down on defense, holding the Spartans without a field goal over the final 3:09 of the half. Pitt-Bradford ripped off 10 straight points during that span, including eight by Rinfrette, to lead by 15 at the break.
The Panthers continued to pour it on in the second half, pushing their lead to 29 points before the final horn sounded. Defensively, Pitt-Bradford was even better over the final 20 minutes, limiting the Spartans to just five made baskets. D'Youville shot an abysmal 17 percent from the floor in the second half.
Pitt-Bradford surrendered just 15 made baskets for the game, a season-best, and held the Spartans to 26 percent shooting overall. D'Youville mustered just eight made field goals over the final three quarters, and the bulk of the Spartans' scoring came at the free throw line, where they were 15-19.
The Panthers shot 37 percent from the floor and bested the Spartans at the stripe by going 18-23. Pitt-Bradford outrebounded D'Youville by seven and scored 25 points off 22 Spartan turnovers.
Rinfrette finished 9-11 from the floor, matching Watts' record-setting performance from Saturday. The two teammates now share the second-highest single-game shooting percentage (81.8) in Pitt-Bradford history. Kaserra Owens netted a double-double of 12 points and 13 rebounds, her second this season in two matchups with the Spartans, and Darien Lantz had a team-high five steals
Casey Stringer and Stephanie Maciag each registered two blocks off the bench, and eight different Panthers recorded an assist.
Pitt-Bradford improves to 12-8 on the season and 9-4 in the AMCC. The Blue and Gold will host their second annual "Teal There's a Cure" game Saturday at 1 p.m. against Mt. Aloysius, raising awareness for ovarian cancer.
