Box Score
NEWARK, NJ – Four players scored in double-figures Saturday for NJIT, to lead the Highlanders to a 79-69 win over Utah Valley in Great West Conference action at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
The Highlanders (8-11, 3-1 GWC) responded with 79 points (four shy the season-high 83 points at Houston Baptist on January 16), shooting 29-for-51 (56.9 percent) from the field for the game.
Senior forward Taiwo Oyelola was brilliant, posting 20 points plus a game-high eight rebounds. She shot 9-for-13 from the field and 2-for-3 at the foul line.
Junior Jessica Gerald finished with 19 points, making six of her 10 shots from the free throw line. She scored 15 points in the second half.
Forward Kehinde Oyelola scored 11 points and point guard Melanie Griffin added 10 points—getting into the lane for pull-up jump shots. Senior Katie Piekielski chipped in eight points and handed out a career-high six assists.
Utah Valley (4-18, 0-5 GWC), which came into the contest with a 6-2 all-time record against NJIT, fell despite a career-high 37 points for Julie Smith, who leads the conference in scoring with (18.3ppg). Wolverine guard Asumi Nakayama contributed 14 points (all in the second half) and dished out a game-high eight assists. She shot 4-for-5 from behind the arc.
The Highlanders led at the half, 36-30, and jumped out to a 10-point lead seven minutes into the contest, 16-6. The Wolverines would connect on the next two shots pulling within five, 16-11, at the 10:44 mark, but the Highlanders stretched its lead to as many as 12, 26-14, on a layup by Taiwo Oyelola.
Utah Valley responded with an 11-2 run over the next 1:30. Julie Smith scored 11 points in the spurt and her jumper at 4:07, brought the Wolverines within three, 28-25.
NJIT opened the second half with a jumper in the paint by Ivana Seric and expanded its lead to 17, 54-37, on a fast break jumper by Griffin at the 14:43 mark.
The Highlanders 17-point lead dropped to eight over the next 6:03, with the Wolverines fighting back, with Nakayama sinking back-to-back three-pointers with 8:40 remaining, 60-52, in favor of the home team.
Two free throws made by Smith, who finished the game 10-for-13, closed the Wolverines gap to within five, 60-55, with less than 7:30 to go. Gerald's three-pointer pushed the Highlander lead back to eight, 65-57, with 6:21 left.
Utah Valley's closest chance of catching NJIT was at the 1:51 mark when Nakayama hit a three-pointer pulling her team within four, 69-65, but NJIT finished the game on a 11-4 run led by Gerald's six points.
The Highlanders will break until Saturday, February 6 when they visit Savannah State for a 12pm tipoff.
Last season, the Highlanders faced Savannah State three times – two in the regular season and once at the Division I Women's Basketball Independent Tournament. NJIT swept the regular season (65-56; January 11 and 68-41; February 24) but fell at the Independent Tournament, 64-56, on March 6. Kehinde Oyelola recorded a double-double with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
