Box Score 

NEWARK, NJ – Senior guard Rayven Johnson scored a game-high 23 points, 17 of which came in the first half, and grabbed a game-best 11 rebounds, leading the NJIT women's basketball team to an easy 72-37 victory over Centenary College Thursday night at the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
It was the home opener for the Highlanders, who improved to 2-1 on the young season, the first for NJIT new head coach Steve Lanpher. It was the first game of the season for Centenary, based in Hackettstown, NJ
 
Besides Johnson, the Highlanders received 12 from sophomore guard Sarah Olson and eight from senior guard Melanie Griffin.
 
The Highlanders never lost the lead in the contest and gradually wore down the Cyclones.
 
The Highlanders took the lead from the very first tip. Johnson got a pass off the opening tipoff and scored just four seconds into the game, giving the Highlanders the lead that they never relinquished.
 
Johnson scored the Highlanders' first seven points and controlled both ends of the floor.
 
“I told the rest of the team to pass the ball more to Ray,” Lanpher said. “What makes Ray special is that she has the ability to take over a game like that. She's such a scoring threat, because she can drive and kick it back out to open teammates.”
 
Centenary cut the early lead to 9-8 on a jumper from Danielle Trucksess with 11:43 remaining in the first half.
 
But the Highlanders scored the next four points on a jumper from junior forward Uju Nwankwo and another move from Johnson to push the lead back to 13-8 with 9:32 left.
 
Sophomore guard Alyssa Albanese hit a driving floater in the lane that gave NJIT a double digit advantage at 20-10 with 5:26 left.
 
Olson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Highlanders their biggest lead of the night at 31-17.
 
“I think we were a little sluggish and a little tired coming out,” Lanpher said. “We had two really tough games to open up (against Seton Hall and Rider. We had some players to come off the bench who gave us some energy.”
 
Johnson amazingly had 17 of the Highlanders' 31 first half points. She also had a team-high five rebounds at the break. Olson had seven points at halftime for NJIT.
 
Johnson continued her hot hand in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring two baskets down low to increase the lead to 35-19. At that point, Johnson was outscoring the Centenary team, 21-19.
Sophomore forward Martina Matejcikova nailed a 3-pointer from the left corner to give NJIT its biggest lead at 38-21 with 15:47 remaining.
 
The Highlanders then gradually pulled away from the Cyclones for the remainder of the game.
 
“We had some defensive opportunities that spread the lead out a little,” Lanpher said. “We were able to get some great shots quickly. We put in a little bit of a press and that worked out well. It's tough because they're all learning a new defensive system.”
 
The Highlanders forced 28 turnovers and held Centenary to shoot just 28 percent from the floor.
 
“That's what we're trying to do,” Lanpher said. “We want to hold our opponents to under 32 percent shooting and we've done that twice already.”
 
Freshman forward Nyasia Davis grabbed six rebounds off the bench for the Highlanders. Nwankwo had four blocked shots and sophomore forward Nicole Maticka had three blocks.'
Heather Russell had nine points to pace Centenary.
 
It turned out to be a solid win for the Highlanders.
 
“It wasn't the prettiest win, but we'll take it,” Lanpher said.
 
The Highlanders return to action Sunday afternoon when they play host to local neighbor Rutgers-Newark, with tip-off slated for 2 p.m. The two schools are located just blocks apart of each other.

Write-up courtesy James Hague