OLEAN, N.Y. – It wasn’t a winter night inside the KOA Arena, but rather a hot and sunny weekend on the city’s blacktop streets.
Regardless, the four members of the Pitt-Bradford women’s basketball team competed in the Olean (N.Y.) Gus Macker adult women’s bracket on Saturday and Sunday.
Senior Ali Rinfrette, juniors Anna Colebert and Jennifer Isenberg and freshman Bri Wells finished the 3-on-3 streetball competition on Olean’s Delaware Avenue and North Barry Street –– affectionately known as “Mackerville” –– with a 2-2 record and a win shy of the finals. The tournament served as the first time the four players have competed together, with Wells getting her first action as a Panther.
Rinfrette, a 2014 Bradford High graduate, became just the fourth player in program history to be named Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference player of the year and is the first female to repeat as the Pitt-Bradford’s Athlete of the Year.
Rinfrette ranked second in the AMCC in scoring at 21.6 points per game and led the conference in total points, field goals made, three-pointers made and three-point field goal percentage.
She broke several school records while leading the Panthers to 16 wins this year, including most points scored in a game (38) and three-pointers made in a game (8), and is the ninth Panther to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
She enters her senior year needing just 96 points to break the school’s all-time scoring record. A nursing major, Rinfrette maintains a 3.9 GPA and is a three-time AMCC All-Academic selection.
“It was great to be out here playing together, even before the school year starts,” Rinfrette said. “It definitely makes us excited for November.”
Colebert, a 2015 Otto-Eldred graduate, played in 27 games last year and averaged 6.9 points over 26 minutes per game. Isenberg, a 2015 Sheffield alumna, played in 11 games last year.
Wells, who graduated in June from Bradford High, went over the 1,000-point plateau for the Lady Owls last season. She was an all-District 9 first team performer after averaging 20.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.7 steals, and 2.1 assists per game. Wells was also a District 9 League and Big 30 all-star.
The Panthers will open up their 2017-18 season at the KOA Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 15 as they play host to Mansfield.
The Panthers got off to a hot start in the double-elimination tournament on Saturday morning, claiming a win in the first game to advance in the winners bracket. A pull-up jumper from long range by Rinfrette sealed the victory for Pitt-Bradford.
Despite a strong shooting effort from Isenberg, a narrow one-point loss in the second round sent the Panthers to the losers bracket, still alive with a chance to advance to the finals.
Colebert knocked down a number of outside shots and Wells got to the rim with ease throughout game three to lead the Panthers and advance them to Sunday morning’s action.
One game away from the semifinals, though, the Panthers fell in their fourth game.
Exiting the tournament with a pair of wins, the players saw a lot of positives in the way they played together.
“I thought we communicated really well out there,” Isenberg said. “We talked a lot more than I was anticipating, and I think it was pretty strong for our first time playing together since last season.”
The weekend’s event was the 10th Gus Macker in Olean. The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford was among the tournament’s sponsors.
