Box Score
 
NEWARK, NJ – Junior guard Rayven Johnson scored all 11 of her points in the second half, nine of which came in a crucial portion of the half, leading NJIT to a 61-52 victory over Texas-Pan American in Great West Conference action at the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center Thursday night.
 
The victory gave the Highlanders a 10-15 overall record and evened their Great West Conference record to 4-4. Texas-Pan American dropped to 9-15 overall and 2-4 in the Great West.
 
Things didn't look good early for the Highlanders, as Broncs junior guard Bianca Torre scored the game's first seven points over the first 1:19, giving the Broncs the early 7-0 lead and forcing Highlanders' head coach Margaret McKeon to call a time out.
 
The Highlanders responded after the time out and went on an 18-2 run to take an 18-9 lead with 11:45 remaining in the first half. Freshman guard Sarah Olson nailed two consecutive long three-pointers to give the Highlanders the lead for good.
 
Donna Jackson connected on two straight baskets for the Broncs, slicing the NJIT lead to 23-20 with 6:20 left in the half, but the Highlanders maintained the advantage and junior guard Kimberly Dweck, who paced the Highlanders with 12 points, knocked down a long three-pointer from the left corner with 18 seconds left, giving the Highlanders a solid 32-23 lead at the half.
 
The Highlanders never allowed the Broncs to get back into the game, thanks to the efforts of Johnson, who hit two consecutive baskets down low to give NJIT a 45-33 lead with 11:59 left.
 
Freshman guard Denisa Domeritova hit a big three-pointer that pushed the lead to 13 (50-37) with 8:00 remaining in the contest.
 
A half minute later, Johnson converted a conventional three-point play to give the Highlanders a commanding 53-38 lead. Johnson then made a power move with 4:56 left that gave NJIT its biggest lead at 59-43.
 
The Highlanders featured a balanced scoring attack, led by Dweck with 12 points followed by Johnson and Olson scoring 11 points each.  
 
Johnson also had a team-high seven rebounds. Domeritova added eight points, as the Highlanders connected on 50 percent of their attempts behind the arc (8-of-16).
 
Freshman Nicole Maticka finished with five points, six rebounds and a game-high three blocks raising her season total to 66 blocks.  With the three blocks against Texas-Pan American, Maticka ties the NJIT single-season school record, held by Liliana Alveraz, who played in 1992-93.
 
Torre led all scorers with 20 points and was the lone Texas-Pan American player to reach double figures.
 
The Highlanders return to action Saturday afternoon, when they play host to Houston Baptist in another Great West Conference contest at the Fleisher Athletic Center, with tipoff slated for 2pm.