Game Notes vs. Seton Hall  

First-year head coach Steve Lanpher and the NJIT women's basketball team will open up the season at Seton Hall from the Big East on Friday at 5pm in Walsh Gymnasium.  This will be the first meeting between the two schools.
 
The Highlanders finished the 2011-12 season with a 13-17 overall mark.  For NJIT, the 13 overall wins are a new high in the Division I era, which began in 2006-07. 

Head Coach Lanpher was selected CollegeSportsMadness Preseason Great West Coach of the Year.   A veteran of nearly 20 years coaching girls and women's basketball and most recently the women's basketball associate head coach at the University of Massachusetts, was named head coach at NJIT in July.

In 2006, he became an assistant coach at the University of Vermont, beginning a six-year association with head coach Sharon Dawley, who promoted him to associate head coach for his last two years at Vermont and hired him as associate head coach at UMass, when she was named head coach there in 2010.

Vermont's combined record in Lanpher's four years on the staff there was 91-40 and at UMass, Lanpher assisted Coach Dawley in the first two years of work toward building a championship-quality program in the rugged Atlantic 10 Conference.
 
Senior guard Rayven Johnson looks to lead the Highlanders offensively after coming off a strong performance last season.  Johnson, was a Great West Conference first-team honoree finishing her junior season leading the team in points (334, 11.5ppg), rebounds (232, 8.0) – a new NJIT Division I single season record and shared the lead with teammate Uju Nwankwo with (29) steals.  Johnson scored in double-figures in 20 out of 29 contests and registered eight double-doubles.  Johnson earned CollegeSportsMadness Preseason Great West Conference first-team honors for the 2012-13 season.
 
Senior point guard Kimberly Dweck had a team-leading 71 assists last season while finishing 70 percent from the free throw line (41-58).
 
Senior guard Melanie Griffin returned to the NJIT lineup last season after ACL injury in 2010-11. 
Griffin averaged 5.1ppg and 2.8rpg.
 
Junior forward Uju Nwankwo, the Highlanders a 6-foot athletic forward, was fourth on the team with (7.5ppg) and second in rebounds (6.1rpg) and blocks (50). Nwankwo had at least one block or steal in 26 out of 30 contests.  Nwankwo earned CollegeSportsMadness Preseason Great West Conference first-team honors along with Johnson for the 2012-13 season.
 
Sophomore shooting guard Denisa Domiterova, who was selected as Great West Conference Newcomer of the year last season, led the team with 77 three-pointers made (ranked 23rd in the nation) and second in scoring (9.4ppg).  Domiterova also earned GWC second-team honors and was named to the all-Newcomer team.
 
Center Nicole Maticka set numerous school records in her first season at NJIT.  The 6-foot-3 sophomore ranked 12th in the nation in blocks per game (2.8) and combined for (83) blocked shots on the season. The 83 blocked shots is a NJIT season school-record, which also makes her the career leader for the Division I era (began in 2006-07).  She also holds the school-record for blocks in a game with nine vs. Longwood on February 26. Last season, Maticka played in all 30 games, starting 23 contests averaging (6.6ppg) and (2.8rpg).
 
Rookie Nyasia Davis, a 6-foot-2 forward was selected CollegeSportsMadness Preseason Great West Conference Freshman of the Year.  Davis was an all-State honorable mention and first-team all-conference honoree as a senior at Abraham Clark High School. She earned second-team all-County honors as a junior, where she averaged nine points and 12 rebounds.  ESPN.com's recruiting website ranked Davis as the 85th-best forward prospect in the national high school class of 2012.
 
Seton Hall Notes
The Seton Hall Pirates, which finished with an 8-23 overall record in 2011-12, lost in the first round of the Big East Championships, almost upsetting Villanova by a point in a 61-60 loss.  This season Seton Hall has been selected to finish 13th out of 15 teams for the upcoming season.
 
Graduated
Senior starters Tajay Ashmeade and Jasmine Crew. Crew started all 31 games, leading the team with 18.6 ppg, 41 steals, 101 assists and an .843 free throw percentage. Ashmeade led the Pirates on the boards last season, averaging 8.8 rebounds per game. She also had a team-high 31 blocks and led the team in field goal percentage (.459).
 
Who's Back
The Pirates bring back a trio of seniors - Terry Green, Alexandra Maseko and Brittany Morris. Green and Morris come into the season ranked sixth (102) and eighth (99) respectively on the career 3-pointers at Seton Hall. Both have a chance of breaking the Seton Hall record which stands at 156.
 
Morris averaged 11.0ppg and made a team-leading 54 three-pointers while Green averaged 7.0ppg and ranked second with 47 three-pointers made last season.
 
The Pirates will get 2011 All-Big East Freshman selection Ka-Deidre Simmons back after she missed the 2011-12 campaign while recovering from a knee injury. The point guard averaged 7.2 points and 3.4 assists per game in 2010-11.