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NJIT returns to action after taking a week off for exams on Sunday at 2pm when the Highlanders host Colgate in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
This will be the third meeting in three seasons between the Highlanders and the Raiders.  NJIT defeated Colgate, 52-41, in Newark on December 9, 2009, and the Raiders were 85-58 winners over NJIT on November 17, 2010 in Hamilton, NY.
 
The Highlanders are coming off a 60-50 non-conference women's basketball loss to Rider last Sunday at home.
 
NJIT, which got 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench from sophomore Uju Nwankwo, dropped to 4-4 with its third loss in the last four games. Nwankwo, an extremely active defender, also matched her career blocked shots high (5) and made all three of NJIT's steals.
 
Freshman Nicole Maticka added five rejections against Rider, raising her season total in just eight games to a program Division I-record 28. She passed the old mark of 27, set last season in 28 games by then-senior Ivana Seric.
 
Maticka, who is averaging 3.5 blocks per game, ranks 7^th in the latest national Division I blocked shots rankings posted this week.
 
The Highlanders have two players averaging double-figures led by sophomore forward Nwankwo.  Nwankwo, who has played in every game (8), has made four starts for NJIT this season, leading the team in points (10.3ppg) and rebounds (6.3rpg).  She is shooting 52 percent from the field (32-62) with 15 blocks, ranking her second behind Maticka.
 
NJIT's other double-figure scorer is freshman Sara Olson with 10.0ppg.  Olson, one of two players on the team to start every game, is shooting a team-best 91 percent from the free throw line (20-22).  Olson is ranked 20^th in the latest national Division I free throw percentage rankings posted this week.
 
The Colgate women's basketball team earned its first win of the season defeating Wagner 71-59 on Saturday, led by freshman Kelly Reid, who scored a career-high 13 points. Head coach Nicci Hay Fort, in her first season at Colgate, recorded her first victory of the season with the Raiders.
 
NJIT, who faced Wagner on November 19 in Newark, came out on top with a 68-65 final score.  The Highlanders led by nine, 60-51, on Kimberly Dweck's jumper with 4:13 on the clock and kept at least a two-possession lead until Kelly Clark made a 3-pointer, her first long-range try of the year, with 13 seconds left to close the score to 67-65.
 
NJIT's Melanie Griffin then iced the victory with plays on both ends of the court in the closing 11 seconds. Fouled in the backcourt on the ensuing inbounds play after Clark's three, Griffin made the first of two free throws with 11 seconds left for a 68-65 NJIT victory. Then she stole the ball with two seconds left, preventing a last-ditch bid for Wagner. 
 
The Raiders, who are (0-5) on the road, are paced by the team's only double-figure scorer, junior guard Jhamine Lynch's 14.7ppg and 21 steals.  Lynch ranks second on the team with 5.0rpg and 21 assists.
 
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. Audio coverage begins a few minutes before the 7 pm game.
 
The Highlanders, who have played seven of its first nine games at home, will host Saint Peter's on Wednesday, December 21 at 1pm before ending the 2011 calendar year in the Midwest.