Box Score


NEWARK, NJ– Senior guard Rayven Johnson scored 12 points and senior guard Melanie Griffin tallied all 10 of her points in the second half, as the NJIT women's basketball team survived a rugged start and earned a  49-46 come-from-behind victory over Utah Valley in a Great West Conference contest Saturday afternoon at the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
The victory enabled the Highlanders (9-14, 2-1 GWC) to snap a three-game losing streak. Utah Valley dropped to 7-13 overall and 2-1 in the GWC.
 
The Highlanders fell behind, 11-0, in the early going, yet managed to come back and earn the hard-fought victory.
 
Utah Valley trailed by three with 22.3 seconds left and had three shots at the basket in the final possession. But two 3-point attempts from Cydne Gray bounced off the rim and the clock expired, giving the Highlanders only their second win in 2013.
 
Kaycee Mansfield paced Utah Valley with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Sammie Jensen had eight points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
 
The Highlanders got a great all-around game from sophomore guard Alyssa Albanese, who had eight points, seven assists (a new career-high) and an astounding seven rebounds (a new career-high). Junior forward Uju Nwankwo had 10 rebounds to pace the Highlanders.
 
Things didn't exactly start off well for the Highlanders, who were held scoreless for nearly the first six minutes and trailed, 11-0. NJIT missed its first 10 shots from the floor during that stretch. Mansfield had six of Utah Valley's 11 points during that span.
 
“I thought we were working hard, but we were really tight,” NJIT head women's coach Steve Lanpher said. “We called two time outs to try to loosen things up. We switched our defenses a little and that also helped. Playing the team that was picked to win our league, we could have easily folded, but that shows the type of poise and character this team has.”
 
The Highlanders finally got on the scoreboard on a jumper from Albanese with 14:14 left in the first half.
 
But the Highlanders scraped and clawed its way back into the game. Sophomore forward Martina Matejcikova hit a driving layup that brought the Highlanders back to within 15-12 with 10:24 left in the half.
 
Johnson hit a rebound basket with 1:13 left in the half that sliced the lead to 21-20.
Johnson started the second half strong, scoring two baskets that enabled the Highlanders to tie the game at 30-30 with 14:21 left in regulation.
 
Griffin hit a corner 3-pointer that gave the Highlanders their first lead of the game at 33-30 with 13:40 left.
“That's what our seniors are supposed to do,” Lanpher said. “They stepped up and made some big shots.”
 
Sophomore guard Sarah Olson nailed a 3-pointer with 8:38 left that pushed the Highlanders' lead to 38-34, giving the Highlanders a slight cushion.
 
Whitney Jenkins hit a 3-pointer that brought the Wolverines to within one, but Griffin, who played a solid all-around game, countered with a clutch trey of her own, giving the Highlanders a 43-39 lead, then  hit a baseline jumper that pushed the lead to six at 45-39 with 2:31 left.
 
Albanese and Johnson also made big shots with the shot clock winding down to keep the Wolverines at bay. The Highlanders limited the Wolverines to just 33 percent shooting from the floor (19-of-57) and just 15 percent (3-of-20) from 3-point range.
 
“We live and die by our defense and today our defense won,” Lanpher said. “It wasn't a pretty game, but we got big shots from Rayven and Melanie, got good floor play from Alyssa, who controlled the tempo and got us going in the second half and Uju, who battled and stayed with it.”
 
Lanpher knew how big the game was for his team, who entered the game having lost three in a row and six of their last seven.
 
“In terms of conference play, it was a pressure game for us,” Lanpher said. “Our goal is to win the regular season league crown and to do that, we had to have a win today. I'm real proud of the way they bounced back, handled their physicality and did a great job executing the offense. It was a really big win for us.”
 
The Highlanders return to action next Saturday when they travel to face Texas-Pan American. They return home on Feb. 5 to face Colgate at 7 p.m.

Write up courtesy James Hague