Taylor Rinn was on the brink of a career milestone, closing in on point 1,000. There is a select few of Pioneer basketball players who accomplished the illustrious achievement of 1,000 points and on November 12, 2022 against Bryant & Stratton, Rinn hit the mark, scoring her 1,000 point of her career.

Only 16 Pioneers before her made it to 1,000 points, including Michelle Burns who played from the Pioneers from 2017-2022 and Melissa Charles who holds the Pioneers scoring title, being the only player for Point Park to record over 2,000 points throughout their career.

Rinn is a senior this year and accumulated 366 points last season, inching her closer to 1,000. Rin had 991 points heading into their game against Bryant & Stratton at Buffalo State Sports Arena. Rinn took no time to score 8 points in the first quarter. In the beginning of the second, Rinn got fouled and had to take two shots with 999 career points.

“In high school, I was six points away from scoring my 1,000th point, so in college, I knew that was one of my biggest goals,” Rinn said. “I’ve been counting down. I knew before the game, I had nine points to go and then I got up to the line and I knew I needed one more point. It  was very, very nerve wracking being at the line, but practicing, that’s all I’ve been doing pretty much all summer, so it definitely paid off in that moment.”

Rinn had quite the season last year, averaging a double-double with 15.9 points per game and 12.4 rebounds per game. Her 12.4 rebounds per game earned her 3rd in the River States Conference (RSC) in that category. She credits a lot of her success to her teammates and was glad they saw her notch her 1,000th point.

“Those people, they’ve been supporting me since day one,” Rinn said. “Having them there in that moment definitely made it a little bit more special.”

“I’ve played with Mich (Michelle Burns) since I’ve been here and I know she’s definitely up in the ranks as well,” Rin said. “But it just feels great to make an impact here and just be able to leave my mark before I leave.”

Rinn received a text from Burns and Carly Lutz, who were both seniors last year, after the game. Burns is 5th in the ranks of points scorers at Point Park.

“It was definitely nice to hear from the seniors,” Rinn said. “I really do miss them this year. It’s definitely been an adjustment without them.”

Rinn grew up in Akron, Ohio and played all 4 seasons at Point Park. Rinn is now 17th all time in scoring and at the pace she is scoring, could jump into the top 10.

Her family made the trip to Buffalo to see her milestone performance.

“I always get like good luck texts before the game and I get a good game text after the game, even if I didn’t have a good game, or at least I didn’t think I did,” Rinn said. “My family was there on Saturday when I scored the 1000 points, so it was definitely special to see them in the crowd cheering me on. They gave me a little banner and everything.”

Coach Dave Scarborough was also proud of Rinn. Scarborough is in his first season as head coach for the Pioneers.

“He’s been cheering me on since day one when he got here,” Rinn said. “He’s been working with me on foul shots, three pointers and stuff like that, so he was definitely really thrilled for me.”

Rinn also makes an impact on the glass. Rinn is in the top ten for all time rebounds, getting closer to 800 career rebounds and is 190 rebounds away from breaking the record.

With Rinn not being as tall as the traditional forward, she uses her physically and her ability to box out to her advantage.”

“I got to make sure I put a body on someone and that’s been my philosophy from the beginning,” Rinn said. “You may not be taller than everyone but getting in the weight room definitely helps. And then kind of having a step on everyone being a little bit quicker has really helped.”

Rinn looks forward to the rest of her senior season.

“We kind of pride ourselves in being like a defensive team,” Rinn said. “When we’ve been working on our defense, we change it up depending on the team, so we’re going to surprise everyone and so they don’t know what we’re doing. Hopefully we’ll have a good run in the conference.”