Box Score
NEWARK, NJ – Junior forward Mady Gobrecht scored a game-high 16 points and dominated the inside with 6 rebounds and 6 blocked shots, leading Yale to its fifth women's basketball win, 68-58, over NJIT Saturday afternoon at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
Gobrecht, the 6-foot-2 junior, is averaging (10.2ppg, 6.5rpg plus a team-high 24 blocked shots), was 5-for-8 from the field and 6-for-6 at the free throw line.
The Bulldogs had two other players reach double-figures, aside from Gobrecht, senior Melissa Colborne (13 points) and freshman Megan Vasquez (12 points). Senior forward Haywood Wright grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds for the Bulldogs.
Highlander senior forward Taiwo Oyelola scored 14 points off the bench and pulled down five rebounds. Twin sister Kehinde Oyelola finished with 12 points and five rebounds, while junior guard Jessica Gerald added 10 points for NJIT. Freshman Rayven Johnson led the Highlanders on the boards with 6 rebounds while chipping in 7 points in 18 minutes of action.
NJIT scored the first two buckets of the contest, taking a 5-0 lead three minutes into the first half. A jumper by Wright at the 15:40 mark broke the Bulldog drought and Vasquez scored 35 seconds later, for a 5-4 score.
Over the next six minutes, both team traded baskets and knotted the score at 16 for the third time in the six-minute span on a layup by Gobrecht. Yale pushed its lead to three, at 7:27 left on the clock on a fast break layup by Colborne, but NJIT's Taiwo Oyelola answered on the other end with a jumper in the paint for a, 21-20 score, in favor of the visiting team.
Yale extended its lead to eight on two occasions, at 5:51 and 4:04 on a layup by Alicia Seelaus, 30-22. Kehinde Oyelola hit a three-pointer just under the four minute mark, 25-30, as Yale ended the half on a 6-4 run for a 36-28 halftime score.
NJIT's Kehinde Oyelola led all scorers at half with 11 points while freshman Allie Messimer finished with 9 points at half, shooting 3-for-6 from behind the arc.
The Highlanders stayed in contention, keeping the Bulldog deficit under 10, and at the 9:40 mark, NJIT tallied off 11 straight points decreasing the Bulldog lead to one, 50-49, on a pair of free throws made by Melanie Griffin with 5:58 left in the contest.
Just as the Highlanders clawed back into the game, Yale went on a 10-1 run, sparked by free throws made by Colborne, stretching its lead to 10, 60-50, with 3:31 remaining. Yale led by at least 7 points, and sunk 8 free throws in the final 1:50.
NJIT will return to action on Tuesday at 12pm, “Education Day” when they host Harvard before opening up the inaugural season in the Great West Conference at Texas-Pan American on Thursday, January 14 at 5:35pm (CT) and at Houston Baptist on Saturday, January 16 at 5:35pm (CT).
