Link to complete 2013-14 NJIT Women's Basketball Schedule
 
NEWARK, NJ—The 2013-14 NJIT women's basketball schedule has more than its share of challenges—five games against teams that played in the 2013 national postseason; a first-ever home game against a team from the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference; and,  29 different opponents in the 29 games. But NJIT coach Steve Lanpher has his eyes on the opportunities attached those challenges.
 
Lanpher is entering his second year at the NJIT helm after a debut season that ended with the championship of the final Great West Conference Tournament. The championship game win pushed the Highlanders' season total to 16, a new high in Division I for a program that entered the college game's highest level in 2006-07.
 
With the Great West gone, Lanpher put together a schedule that features games against teams from 13 different Division I conferences, including two dominant defending conference champions (South Dakota State from the Summit League and UAlbany from the America East Conference). UAlbany will visit NJIT on Dec. 10 at 7 pm, while the Highlanders will travel to South Dakota State for Dec. 2 game.
 
Clemson, which plays against some of the nation's top programs (four ACC teams were in the top 20 of the official NCAA Rating Percentage Index—RPI—last year), visits the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center on January 2 at 7 pm.
 
"I am extremely excited about our schedule," said Lanpher. "We will be competing as a Division I independent. Thus, our postseason aspirations will be based solely on our regular season success. As a program, we will be look to further extend our record-breaking success from a year ago. Our major team goal is to be playing in the postseason come March and our competitive schedule will give us that opportunity." 
 
Schedule notes and highlights:
 
Five opponents made national postseason play last year:
 
--South Dakota State was 25-8 in 2012-13, winning its fifth-consecutive Summit League championship, advancing to the NCAAs for a fifth straight year. The Jackrabbits played in two Women's National Invitation Tournaments before beginning their run of NCAA bids, meaning they have been in postseason seven straight years.
 
South Dakota State was on NJIT's first Division I schedule in 2006-07, but the series ended when the Jackrabbits entered the Summit League the next year. The Jackrabbits, already a strong team and bound for their first WNIT berth, easily won both '06-'07 games against the Highlanders.
 
--UAlbany, which has faced NJIT three times, including last season, was a double-champion in the America East in 2012-13, winning all 16 conference regular season games and then rolling through the AE Tournament to finish 27-4. The Great Danes also won the America East and played in the NCAAs the preceding year.
 
--Three other 2013-14 NJIT opponents were in the 2013 postseason. They are: Howard (20-12 last year), which played in the 2013 Women's Basketball Invitational; Penn (18-13 overall and 2-1 in postseason, reaching the WBI semifinals); and Harvard (21-9), which reached the second round of the 2013 of the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).
 
NJIT visits Howard in Washington, DC, on Nov. 17, Penn in Philadelphia on January 25, and Harvard comes to Newark on Jan. 15 at noon for a game in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
--Clemson will be the first Atlantic Coast Conference women's basketball opponent to visit NJIT (Jan. 2, 7 pm in the Fleisher Athletic Center) in women's basketball. Previously, the Highlanders have visited the ACC's Boston College and Virginia Tech. Two ACC teams were Top 10 in the final 2013 RPI and, four were Top 20. The ACC has had a representative in 12 Final Fours including 2006, when its members comprised 3 parts of the Final Four, won by the ACC's Maryland.
 
Home opener:
 
--After opening the season at Stony Brook (Nov. 8) and Lehigh (Nov. 11), the Highlanders will host New Hampshire at 7 pm on Nov. 13 in the Fleisher Athletic Center). The game vs. UNH will be the first of 14 home games scheduled for the 2013-14 season.
 
Opponents from 13 Division I conferences:
 
--The 13 conferences represented on NJIT's schedule are: America East (UAlbany, New Hampshire, UMass Lowell, Stony Brook); Atlantic Coast (Clemson); Atlantic 10 (Rhode Island, VCU); BIG EAST  (Seton Hall); Colonial Athletic Association (Hofstra, Northeastern); Conference USA (Mashall); Ivy League (Brown, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn); Mid-Eastern Athletic (Delaware State, Howard, Maryland Eastern Shore); Northeast (Fairleigh Dickinson, LIU Brooklyn, St. Francis Brooklyn, Wagner); Ohio Valley (Southern Illinois-Edwardsville); Patriot League (Bucknell, Lafayette, Lehigh); Southland (Incarnate Word); and, Summit League (South Dakota State).
 
 Honorary Ivy?:
 
--The venerable eight-school Ivy League plays the league portion of its schedule from mid-January into the first week, or so, of March.
 
For a four-game stretch from Jan. 11 through Jan. 25, NJIT will get a taste of Ivy basketball, playing four consecutive games against teams that comprise half of the Ivy League. The four-game stretch opens with three home games for the Highlanders in the Estelle and Zoom Fleisher Athletic Center:
 
Jan. 11 vs. Brown (2 pm, Fleisher); Jan. 15 vs. Harvard (Noon, Fleisherr); and Jan. 18 vs. Dartmouth (2 pm, Fleisher). The run of games against the Ivies ends with a women's/men's doubleheader on Jan. 25 on Penn's campus in Philadelphia at the storied Palestra.
 
Palestra Doubleheader on Jan. 25:
 
--The only women-men basketball doubleheader is at Penn on Jan. 25. The women  tip off in The Palestra at 5 pm and the men's game is set to follow at 7:30 pm.The Palestra, opened in 1927, has hosted more college games overall and more NCAA Tournaments than any other arena in the country. It is also famed as the primary home of Philadelphia's Big Five. ESPN labeled it as "The Cathedral of Basketball".
 
Alumnae Day:
 
The annual event is Saturday, Nov. 30, with a noon varsity game vs. Bucknell in the Fleisher Athletic Center (more details to be announced later).
 
First-time opponents:
 
Six, all from January on. They are: Clemson (home on Jan. 2, 7 pm), Marshall (home on Jan. 5, 2 pm); Dartmouth (home on Jan. 18, 2 pm); Maryland Eastern Shore (away on Jan. 29); Southern Illinois Edwardsville (SIUE; away on Feb. 3)), Incarnate Word (away in San Antonio, TX, on Feb. 22), and UMass Lowell (home on March 4, 7 pm, Senior Night).
 
Incarnate Word, a Catholic University, and UMass Lowell are both playing their first Division I schedules, as they make the transition to NCAA Division I from Division II. Incarnate Word was 17-10 last year in DII and UMass Lowell was 18-9. SIUE played its first Division I schedule in 2008-09.
 
Neighborhood Rivalry:
 
In what may be the shortest "road trip" in college sports, NJIT will taken on its only non-Division I foe on Feb. 17 at 7 pm, when neighboring Rutgers-Newark visits the Fleisher Athletic Center. Rutgers-Newark, which competes in NCAA Division III, was 19-10 last year and the campuses of NJIT and Rutgers-Newark face each other on a several-block stretch divided by Martin Luther King Boulevard.