Box score
NEWARK, NJ—NJIT senior Jessica Gerald scored a game-high 24 points, leading NJIT to a 68-60 win over visiting Texas-Pan American Wednesday in the Great West Conference women's basketball opener for both teams.
Gerald, who scored her season-high 25 in the previous game at Harvard last weekend, appears to be heating up as conference play begins. She was especially hot in the second half against UTPA. Although her nine first-half points were game-high Wednesday, Gerald stepped up to score 15 of NJIT's 33 second-half points, as the Highlanders held on against the Broncs in the game in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
Two other starters reached double-figure scoring for the Highlanders (4-10 overall), with sophomores Rayven Johnson and Kimberly Dweck picking up 12 and 11 points, respectively. Dweck also finished with a game-high 6 steals.
Johnson pulled down 7 rebounds, which was third on NJIT behind senior Ivana Seric (11) and freshman Uju Nwankwo (career-high 10). The pair, who also scored 9 points apiece, led NJIT to a large 44-29 team rebounding advantage.
Texas-Pan American (8-11 overall) had three double-figure scorers, led by junior Ce'Monay Newell's 16 points. Junior Donna Jackson notched 15 points and a team-leading 8 rebounds and sophomore guard Bianca Torre finished with 12 points and a team-best 4 steals. Broncs junior Erin Lewis was the game assists leader, with 5.
NJIT led throughout, but the game was close. NJIT held 11-point leads once in each half, but the Broncs continued to fight back into contention, only to be turned away by the Highlanders.
NJIT's big lead of the first half was 32-21 after a conventional three-point play by Gerald with 2:19 remaining. And in the second half, the Highlanders led, 39-28, at the 16:57 mark of the second half on a pair of free throws for Gerald.
The Highlanders opened strong--13-6 in the first 4:14, but the Broncs got going and closed to within a point, 16-15, on Jackson's jump shot in the lane with 10:55 on the first-half clock.
NJIT then surged, 8-2 over the next 2:19, for a 24-17 lead on a three-pointer by Jelena Zoric. . The bulge had swung from five to six points heading to the last three minutes of the half, when Nwankwo scored a put-back layup at 2:36 and then Gerald converted the three-point play at 2:19.
The Highlanders, who had a 13-4 lead in points-off-of-turnovers in the first half, held an overall advantage of 35-28 at the break. Gerald's nine points were game-high for NJIT, while Torre led the Broncs, with seven points.
After the Gerald free throws gave NJIT its 11-point second-half lead, UTPA answered with 8-0 run in 2:34, closing the gap to 39-36 at 14:33. But NJIT had the answer to every challenge and answered with five straight points of its own in the ensuing 58 seconds.
The back-and-forth swings continued and Jackson, who scored 10 in the second half, again pulled the Broncs back within a single point, 51-50, on a jump shot at 5:04.
The Highlanders responded to the visitors' last, best challenge with a 7-1 spurt, going back ahead 58-51 on Dweck's three-point bucket with 3:13 remaining. NJIT led by at least 5 the rest of the way to finish off the win.
The Highlanders, who are 3-2 over their last five games, will host another Great West Conference game next, entertaining Houston Baptist on Saturday at 2 pm in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
