NEWARK, NJ—Kelsey O'Keefe's driving basket with 13 seconds left proved to be the game-winner for Bryant, which pulled out a 48-47 women's basketball win over NJIT Wednesday night in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
In a series of numerical coincidences, 13 was a recurring number in the narrative of NJIT's second excruciating home loss this month.
O'Keefe led victorious Bryant with 13 points and her last two saved her team from the misery of what would have been a painful loss after the Bulldogs held a 13-point lead with 19:04 left, but saw it slip away against the Highlanders, who dominated up until the final 13 seconds.
NJIT's two scoring leaders, Ivana Seric and Jackie McCaffrey, finished with 13 points, as well.
Seric, Kehinde Oyelola and Katie Piekielski all grabbed seven rebounds apiece to share game honors in that category with two Bryant players, O'Keefe and Courtney Schermerhorn.
McCaffrey, a senior, made a career-high six steals to lead the game in that category. O'Keefe had three steals for the Bulldogs.
Back on February 7, Chicago State scored twice in the last 13 seconds to score a come-from-behind 66-64 win over the Highlanders. NJIT lost another close one against Bryant, 66-62, on January 28 in Smithfield, RI.
Wednesday night's game was technically a come-from-behind win for Bryant because of the finish, but it didn't begin that way, as the Bulldogs took advantage of ice-cold NJIT shooting (6-26; 23 percent) to forge a 27-16 halftime lead.
NJIT, which set a school record by connecting on 14-of-23 three-point shots over the weekend in a rousing 83-67 victory against Longwood, misfired on all nine three-point tries in the first half on Wednesday against Bryant.
The Highlanders, who trailed just 12-10 after Femi Oyelola's two free throws midway through the first half, went scoreless for the next six minutes and managed only six points over the last 10:07 of the half.
Bryant's O'Keefe, who had scored a game-high 24 points in her team's home win over the Highlanders, opened the second half scoring with a basket to make it 29-16 for the Bulldogs with 19:04 left in the game.
But NJIT, which dominated most of the second half, fought back and erased the 13-point lead in less than nine minutes and went ahead, 36-33, on a driving layup and free throw by Seric at the 10:19 mark.
Seric soon scored on another layup to give the Highlanders what would be their biggest lead, 38-33, with 9:09 remaining.
Bryant, which managed just six points in the first 11 minutes-plus of the second half, including none between 14:29 and 8:37, finally got going again, but NJIT continued to answer and stayed in the lead until O'Keefe's bucket with 13 seconds left.
NJIT coach Margaret McKeon quickly called timeout and the Highlanders got the ball to Seric, who had proved nearly unstoppable in the second half driving the ball through traffic from the top of the key and finishing with layups.
Seric, who scored nine of her 13 points in the second half on 4-for-5 shooting, drove down the right side of the lane and was fouled in the act of shooting by O'Keefe with 4.7 second left.
Unfortunately for the Highlanders, Seric, who had played such a big role in the second-half comeback, adding three assists to her nine points, could not connect on either of her two free throws and O'Keefe secured the second miss as it came off the backboard to seal the win for Bryant.
NJIT will visit Texas-Pan American on Saturday for a game at 2 pm (CST).
