Dec. 12, 2007

Box Score

NEWARK, NJ - Only a career-best 32 points from standout sophomore guard Valerie Nainima and nearly flawless foul shooting enabled a quality Long Island University women's basketball team to escape from the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center with a 67-63 win over NJIT Wednesday night.

LIU, which played in last season's Women's NIT postseason tournament and went to 9-2 this season with Wednesday's win, needed nearly every one of the 32 points it got from Nainima, who came in averaging almost 20 points per game.

Included in Nainima's career night was 8-for-8 shooting at the foul line, all of which happened in the second half. She led the way as LIU shot 21-for-25 (84 percent) at the line for the game and 17-for-20 (85 percent) in the second half.

The brilliant free throw shooting was critical for the Blackbirds, who outscored NJIT, 21-8 at the line for the game and needed the 17 second-half points off of free throws with the Highlanders defense holding LIU to just four second-half field goals.

On the other end, NJIT shot 60 percent from the field (15-25) in the second half.

The Highlanders had a 30-8 advantage over LIU in bench scoring for the game--24-1 in the second half. And NJIT also dominated in the paint against the taller visitors. For the game, NJIT outscored LIU, 32-12, from in close and it was 24-2 in the second half.

Both teams had three double-figure scorers. NJIT's three were freshman Jessica Gerald (13 points), sophomore Kehinde Oyelola (12 points) and senior Erika Velez (10).

Velez and Oyelola each finished with six rebounds to lead the Highlanders on the boards and Jackie McCaffrey's season and game-high five assists topped NJIT in that category.

Gerald, who scored 11 of her points in the second half, and Oyelola, who scored 10 of her points in the second half, accounted for nearly all of the Highlanders' 24-1 bench scoring advantage over the final 20 minutes.

In addition to Nainima's 32 points, LIU got 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds from freshman forward Chelsi Johnson and 10 points from senior guard Mikaelar Whippy.

Nainima and Whippy hail from the unlikely basketball locale of Fiji, an archipelago of 322 South Pacific islands, of which 106 are inhabited by a total of fewer than a million people.

The visiting Blackbirds appeared on their way to a comfortable win at halftime, as they built a 40-24 lead, topped by 19 points from Nainima, who was 7-for-10 from the field, including 5-for-7 on three-point shots. NJIT was paced by Jill Dickinson's seven points and six points for Velez.

LIU stretched its early second-half lead to as many as 19 points and still led by 17, 53-36, when Nainima hit a pair of free throws with 13:15 left.

But, NJIT, which would make 11 of its first 15 second-half shots, refused to go away. Gerald's bucket at the 12:49 mark cut the deficit to 15 and Oyelola scored twice in 38 seconds, before Keri Washington hit two foul shots to cut LIU's advantage to single digits, 53-44, with 10:32.

The Highlander rally continued with a three-pointer by Taiwo Oyelola at 9:42, a jump shot in the paint by Gerald at 6:46 and two made free throws by McCaffrey that closed the score to 55-51 with 6:18 left. In all, NJIT outscored the visitors, 15-2, over 6:31 from 12:49 to the 6:18 mark.

In addition to the hot shooting, the Highlander defense limited LIU to 0-for-3 shooting from the field, with no offensive rebounds and five turnovers during the 15-2 NJIT spurt.

Nainima pushed her team back to an eight-point advantage, 59-51, with two free throws and then a jump shot with 5:31 left. But Gerald answered with two quick layups off of her own misses and NJIT was back to within four points of the lead, 59-55, with 4:18 left.

After LIU made a free throw, Kehinde Oyelola got NJIT closer yet at 60-57 on a layup at 2:37. Her bucket was the high water mark of a 21-4 run by the Highlanders.

The visitors survived by making 7 of 8 foul shots the rest of the way, including 4-for-4 in the last 13 seconds by Nainima.

NJIT actually got to within two, 65-63, on Kehinde Oyelola's two foul shots with less than three seconds left, but Nainima put the game away less than a second later by sinking two free throws.

The Highlanders will break for more than a week to concentrate on final exams. Their next scheduled game is Friday, December 21 at 1 pm, when they host Wagner in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.