In a must-win River State Conference match to secure a home playoff game, the Pioneers (10-15, 6-10 RSC) came in clutch with a 31 point victory against Ohio Christian University (8-18, 6-10 RSC) and snagged fourth place in the East division. 

Senior forward Taylor Rinn scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds while junior guard Ari Bleda snagged 13 rebounds and 18 points in the winning effort. Senior guard Sierra Senata added 20 points to the board while freshman forward Alexis Giles and sophomore guard Emma Pavalek netted 14 points and 13 points, respectively, to round out the starting five. Coral Homs scored 15 points off the bench.

Point Park came out explosive and netted 38 points in the first quarter. OCU led fo the first few minutes of the quarter until a jump shot from Bleda tied the game at 8 apiece with 7:27 left in the period. From there, PPU went on a 30-10 run to close the opening quarter with a 38-18 advantage. The Pioneers found the hoop on five triples and 13 field goals and went 7-of-7 from the charity stripe.

Pavalek opened up the second period with a jumper followed by a three-pointer from Senata to lead 43-18 within 36 seconds of the quarter. The first three points Ohio Christian scored were due to fouls from PPU. 

Senata made another triple with 7:57 before the break and the Pioneers were held scoreless for nearly three and a half minutes. Giles nailed a jump shot with 4:36 left before halftime to hold a 50-28 advantage. Point Park outscored the home team 25-22 in the quarter to lead 63-40 at the half. 

The Pioneers opened up the third period with back-to-back jumpers to lead 68-40. Even though Ohio Christian was finding the net, they were unable to make a comeback after being down by 32 points just before halftime. Point Park scored 27 points in the third compared to OCU’s 23, which was the most points the visitors allowed in a single quarter. PPU went on to lead 90-63 heading into the last quarter of play.

A bucket from downtown courtesy of Giles gave the visitors a 100-70 advantage with 6:45 left in the match. Senior Tanner Hoffer made a jump shot with 1:53 left to clutch a 111-81 lead and destroy Ohio Christian’s hopes of a fourth quarter miracle comeback. The Pioneers held their own and marched to a 116-85 victory.

Point Park was 44-of-75 (58.7%) from the field and 15-of-34 (44.1%) from beyond the arc. The Pioneers held their opponents to 28-of-79 from the field and 5-of-24 from downtown. Ohio Christian was 24-of-28 on free throws compared to PPU’s 13-of-16. The green and gold outrebounded the home team 49 to 21 and had 25 bench points compared to OCU’s two. 

The Pioneers managed 18 second chance points and nine points from five of Ohio Christian’s miscues. Point Park turned the ball over 14 times in the match, which led to 14 points for their opponent. 

Next up: playoffs. Point Park will face St-Mary’s-of-the-Woods College on Monday at CCAC in Pittsburgh. When the teams played each other last, the Pioneers won by 29 points. Tip off is set for 5:00p.m.

*At the time this article was written, this playoff game had not happened yet