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NJIT will face Bucknell in women's basketball for the first time on Saturday when its hosts the Bison in a 2pm game in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
In the last outing for the Highlanders, NJIT poured in 51 second-half points, 33 of which came on 3-point baskets, but it wasn't enough to offset a fatally slow start and the Highlanders ran out of time against visiting Manhattan, 75-66.
 
The Highlanders made 14 3-pointers, including 11 in the second half, with six different players connecting from downtown.
 
The top scorer for the Highlanders was freshman Sarah Olson, who scored her 16 points in just nine minutes of action in the second half. After going scoreless in 14 minutes' work in the first half, Olson shot 5-for-5 from the field in the second half, including 4-for-4 from distance.
 
The Highlanders (3-2) won its season-opener on November 13 with a 70-66 victory over Brown and picked up back-to-back wins against Wagner on November 19 and Delaware State on November 23.
 
Olson paces NJIT with 12.6ppg and 4.8rpg while shooting a team-best 95 percent from the free throw line (19-20) and 42 percent from beyond the arc (8-19) in her first season at NJIT.  The 5-foot-9 guard has scored in double-figures in three-out-of-five games with a high of 25 vs. Brown.
 
The Highlanders other double-figure scorer is Preseason all-Great West Conference first-team honoree Rayven Johnson with 10ppg and 5.8rpg.
 
Forward Uju Nwankwo, who has started the last three games for the Highlanders, is averaging 9.6ppg and a team-leading 6.0rpg.  Nwankwo posted her first double-double of the season vs. Wagner on November 19 (14 pts, 13 rebounds) – both a career-high for the sophomore.  She ranks second on the team with seven blocks.
 
Newcomers Nicole Maticka leads the team with 17 blocks and Denisa Domiterova has dished out a team-leading 15 assists.  Maticka set a school-record 8 blocks vs. Wagner while Domiterova notched a career-high 7 assists vs. Manhattan on November 27.
 
Bucknell comes into Saturday's contest with a 1-7 record.  The Bison's only win of the season came against Saint Peter's on November 11 in the team's season-opener, a 46-35 victory.
 
Last time out for the Bison, Bucknell trimmed Canisius' lead down to three on more than one occasion but never led in the contest falling 55-47 Wednesday night.
 
Spurring Bucknell's runs was Alyssa Dunn, who finished with a season-best 13 points and three steals. The Bison also collected 16 steals as a team, the most since 2009.
 
The Bison are led by freshman Amy Zehner, the team's only double-figure scorer with 13.6ppg.  Zehner, who has played in the first five contests, is second on the team with 35 rebounds (7.5rpg).  Zehner has not appeared in the last three games since her performance against Morgan State on November 22 (9 pts, 13 rebs).
 
Lindsay Horbatuck, ranked fourth in the Patriot League, leads the team on the boards with 60 rebounds (7.5rpg) while shooting 73 percent from the free throw line (16-22).
 
NJIT and Bucknell have five common opponents – Lehigh, Rider, Saint Peter's, Buffalo and Navy.  The Highlanders have yet to face any of these teams this season.
 
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 15 minutes before the 2 pm game.