Women's Basketball | 11/24/2014 1:24:00 PM
NJIT women's basketball will close out the month of November at home on Tuesday night at 7pm hosting St. Francis Brooklyn in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
Michael Ventola will handle play-by-play in conjunction with the live streaming video feed on
www.njithighlanders.com .
NJIT, which opened up the season with three games on the road, dropped its first two, both determined by five-points (at UNH 61-56; at Dartmouth 68-63 (OT). The Highlanders won their first game of the 2014 season at Fairleigh Dickinson (68-64) on November 19.
In the home opener last Saturday, the Highlanders dropped a 74-54 decision to visiting Lehigh. Sophomore guard
Alana Dudley was the lone Highlander to reach double-figures with 12 points.
NJIT sophomore
Leah Horton leads the Highlanders in scoring (11.5ppg) and rebounds (7.5rpg). The 6-foot-1 forward is shooting 44 percent from the floor (18-41) and 67 percent from the free throw line (10-15).
The Highlanders other double-figure scorer is senior
Martina Matejcikova(10.5ppg). Point guard
Alyssa Albanese tops the team in assists (23), three-point field goals made (7) and steals (4) while averaging (9.8ppg).
Albanese recorded her 100
th career steal vs. Lehigh.
Alana Dudley is averaging (8.5ppg) off the bench for NJIT.
Center
Nicole Maticka is the team leader with 7 blocks, increasing her career block mark to 170 (second all-time in D1 era), just nine shy the career record held by
Uju Nwankwo (class 2014). Maticka and Albanese are each averaging 5.3rpg.
This will be the fifth all-time meeting between the two schools, with the Terriers holding a 3-1 win/loss record.
In Brooklyn last season, St. Francis Brooklyn had three players reach double-figures and held off visiting NJIT, 58-53. The Highlanders down but not out, fought back Albanese converted on a layup with 45 seconds and Nwankwo put back a layup of her own ,cutting the Highlander deficit to three, 56-53, with 40 seconds remaining. St. Francis Brooklyn closed out the game hitting a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left on the clock for a 58-53 victory.
St. Francis Brooklyn, coming off a program-record 19-win season and trip to the Northeast Conference finals in 2013-14, was predicted to finish third in the NEC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Third-year head coach John Thurston returns a starting lineup that includes a trio of starters, Jaymee Veney (10.7ppg), Katie Fox (4.7ppg, 3PT % 44.4) and 2013-14 NEC second-team selection Eilidh Simpson (14ppg).
The Terrier guards are joined by 2013-14 NEC Defensive team choice Leah Fechko (8.8ppg, 6.4 rpg, 51 steals) and senior forward Sarah Benedetti (11.4ppg, 3.1rpg, 36.2% 3PT)
The Terriers opened the 2014-15 campaign at the Preseason Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT), the first-ever invite for the program. St. Francis Brooklyn dropped its opening two contests to UAlbany (90-47) and North Dakota (70-63) before picking up the teams' first win of the season against Rider (71-60) led by four Terriers scoring in double-digits.
St. Francis Brooklyn is paced by Jaymee Veney in scoring (15.3ppg) and rebounding (8.3rpg) while Leah Fechko is the Terriers other double-figure scorer at (12.0ppg) and ranks second with (7.7rpg).
