Box Score
 
HOUSTON – NJIT had three players reach double-figures and shot 59 percent in the second half for a 69-52 women's basketball road victory over Houston Baptist in the opening Great West Conference game for both teams at Sharp Gym Thursday evening.
 
NJIT (7-11, 1-0 Great West) got a team-high 16 points off the bench from freshman Sarah Olson and 13 points from Great West Conference Player of the Week Denisa Domiterova.  Olson scored 10 of her 16 points in the second half and finished the contest 4-for-9 from behind the arc.  Domiterova was 5-of-9 from the field and 3-of-6 from three-point range.
 
The Highlanders also got a double-double -- 14 points and game-high 10 rebounds from junior guard Rayven Johnson.  Melanie Griffin added nine points and five rebounds while Jelena Zoric chipped in eight points in five minutes of action off the bench.
 
Junior Brittany Barton led Houston Baptist (1-16, 0-1 Great West), with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. 
 
Freshman point guard Devyn Weymouth scored 14 points and the Huskies other double-figure scorer was leading scorer freshman Shanice Steenholdt. 
 
Steenholdt, a 6-foot forward for the Huskies came into Thursday's game averaging a double-double (19.3ppg and 11.3rpg).  She finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 17 minutes of action before she took an early exit in the final minute of the first half.
 
The Highlanders, who trailed early in the contest, 16-4, after a layup by Steenholdt with 14:12 left in the first half trimmed the Husky lead down to seven, 19-12, over the next 3:40 on a 8-3 run sparked by Olson's three-pointer at 13:50.  Guard Kimberly Dweck converted on a layup down the lane and Olson knocked down another three-pointer with 10:10 left to go in the first half.
 
Houston Baptist claimed its biggest lead of the first half, 29-14, on a three-pointer by Barton, at 5:29 but the Huskies saw their lead sink as NJIT went on an 12-1 run over the final 5:07 cutting the home team's lead down to single-digits, 30-26, after a three-point play by Dweck with 58 seconds remaining in the half.
 
Down four points at halftime, NJIT scored the first eight points taking a four-point lead, 34-30. The Huskies came within two, 34-32, on a pair of free throws by Weymouth before the Highlanders went on a 19-6 run over the next six minutes taking a 53-38 lead with 10:43 remaining.
 
The Highlanders shot 59 percent from the field (17-for-29) and 67 percent from behind the arc (6-of-9) in the second half.  NJIT also got 24 points from the bench and scored 20 points off Houston Baptist's 18 turnovers.
 
NJIT, which has won its last two out of three contests, will close out its nine-game road trip on Saturday at Texas-Pan American.  Tip off is scheduled for 6pm (CT).  Texas-Pan American comes into Saturday's contest  (8-11, 1-0 Great West) after a 43-39 home victory over defending Great West Conference champion Chicago State.
 
The next home contest for the Highlanders is on January 26 at 7pm when NJIT hosts North Dakota.  The last home game for NJIT was a 66-59 overtime victory over Saint Peter's on December 21, 2011.