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NJIT will open the 2011-12 basketball season this weekend, as the women will host Brown on Sunday at 2pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Fans unable to make the game can follow all the action live on www.njithighlanders.com , which will carry a webcast play-by-play and commentary from Matt Provence, as well as an in-game real-time stat feed. 
 
This will be the second meeting between the two schools; last season the Highlanders had a come-from-behind win at Brown.  Jessica Gerald's layup down the middle of the paint with 2.8 second left on the clock lifted NJIT to a 63-61 victory over the Bears.
 
Last season, the Highlanders finished with a 7-21 overall mark and graduated two seniors – Jessica Gerald and Ivana Seric.
 
Gerald, an all-GWC second team honoree last season, became NJIT's all-time leading scorer with 1,504 points. 
 
Seric, the only Highlander to start every game the last three seasons holds two NJIT Division I school-records – rebounds in a game (15 vs. North Dakota – 2.10.11) and blocks in a game (5 vs. Savannah State – (2.3.11).
 
A key returnee to the 2011-12 squad is last year's GWC honorable mention honoree Rayven Johnson.  Johnson was the team's second leading scorer with 299 points (10.7ppg) and 172 rebounds (6.1rpg).
 
Johnson established a new program Division I record for three-point baskets made with nine vs. Houston Baptist (1.15.11) shooting 9-for-11 on threes and 10-for-13 overall, finishing with a career-high 30 points.
 
Melanie Griffin, the Highlanders junior guard, missed most of the 2010-11 season due to a torn ACL injury.  Griffin played in eight games prior to her injury averaging 11.5ppg.  Griffin posted double-figures in six out of eight games with a career-high of 19 points vs. Navy (11.14.10).
 
Kimberly Dweck, NJIT's point guard last season, played in every game (28) including 25 starts, averaging 7.1ppg and 3.1apg.  Forward Uju Nwankwo recorded (23) blocked shots in her first season.
 
New faces to the NJIT squad – Denisa Domiterova and Nicole Maticka – who hail from Slovakia in Europe.  Maticka is a 2011 graduate of Life Center Academy in Burlington, NJ.
 
Maticka had a high of 12 blocks in one game (against Academy of the New Church from PA) and seven other games with at least five blocks while Domiterova made 15 3-pointers in the eight games and shot 75 percent on free throws.
 
The other three freshmen are from the United States – Alyssa Albanese and Kim Tullis who are both from Maryland, and Sarah Olson, a 2011 graduate of Howell (NJ) High School.
 
Tullis was an honorable mention all-conference selection in the WCAC, where her team was 15-3. Her high scoring game was 13 points. 
 
Albanese, a first-team all-county player for Elizabeth Seton High School, averaged 10.3 points and shot an impressive .824 (56-68) at the foul line during her senior year. She had 11 double-figure scoring games, including a high of 26 vs. St. Mary's Ryken. 
 
Olson was voted to the A North all-division team and the News Transcript named her to its all-district first team after she averaged a team-best 11.6 points per game, including 30 3-pointers and a 79 percent success rate at the foul line.
 
On Sunday, Brown will play its second game of the 2011-12 season when the Bears visit NJIT.  Brown opens up play Friday hosting New Hampshire.
 
Junior guard Shelia Dixon, a second team all-Ivy league selection returns to the lineup to lead the Bears.  Dixon led Brown in two categories -- scoring and rebounding (11ppg) and (6.3rpg).
 
Lauren Clarke, named to the all-Ivy league Rookie team, notched a career-high 24 points against URI (12.8.10) going 6-for-8 from behind the arc to rank second all-time in Brown's record books in three-pointers made in a game.
 
The Bears welcome back all five starters from last season, with no players lost to graduation, and four newcomers.
 
NJIT will play the next two games at home before playing its first road game of the year. 
 
The Highlanders will host Fairleigh Dickinson on Wednesday, November 16 at 7pm and Wagner on Saturday, November 19 at 2pm before traveling to Delaware State on November 23.