The Highlanders, who arrived in Florida Wednesday, a day after defeating St. Francis Brooklyn, 57-50, in overtime in Newark, will return to the court on Friday at 12 Noon, in the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament, facing the host school.

Northeastern and North Dakota State, a foe from NJIT's first season of Division I competition in 2006-07, are the other two teams in the tourney and will tipoff at 2:30pm.

The first of two games on Saturday is slated for 4:30pm, followed by the final game at 7pm.  Match-ups for those contests will be determined by the outcomes of Friday's games.

Live streaming video of the NJIT/Florida Atlantic game can be followed at http://www.fausports.com.
 
NJIT Notes
NJIT, which opened 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, 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 is coming off a 57-50 overtime home victory over St. Francis Brooklyn on November 25 led by senior point guard Alyssa Albanese, who scored a career-high 24 points and sent the game into overtime with a running jumper in the lane with 10 seconds remaining.

Albanese, the 5-foot-3 guard, leads the Highlanders in four categories— scoring (12.6ppg), 26 assists, 10 3-point field goals made and 6 steals.  She is shooting 46% from three-point range and is third on the team in rebounding at 5.0rpg.  Albanese has recorded double-digit scoring in three out of five contests for the Highlanders.

The Highlanders' other double-figure scorer is sophomore transfer Leah Horton, who is averaging 11.0ppg and tops the team with 45 total rebounds (9.0rpg).  Senior Martina Matejcikova is averaging 8.8ppg, while sophomore guard Alana Dudley is averaging 8.6ppg coming off the bench for the Highlanders.

Center Nicole Maticka leads the team with 9 blocks bringing her career total mark to 172 —seven shy the NJIT D1 record held by Uju Nwankwo (179).  Maticka is averaging (6.2ppg), (6.0rpg).
 
Florida Atlantic Notes
Florida Atlantic, a 16-win team in 2013-14, was selected to finished 13th out of 14 teams in the Preseason Conference USA Coaches' Poll.

The Owls, which graduated four seniors last season (all averaging double-digits), welcomes six freshmen to the 2014-15 squad. 

This season, Florida Atlantic opened up the season at Central Florida, dropping a 94-74 decision but has bounced back with three straight wins over Bethune-Cookman (88-68), Cleveland State (79-74) and Western Illinois (90-88).

Junior guard Ali Gorrell, a transfer from Wyoming in 2012-13, who sat out the 2013-14 season due to NCAA transfer rules, tops the team in scoring (24.3ppg) and rebounding (6.8rpg).  Classmate Morgan Robinson is second on the team in scoring (12.0ppg) while freshmen guard Malia Kency is averaging 11.5ppg, has a team-leading 16 assists and 12 3-pointers made.  Sophomore Shaneese Bailey is the fourth double-digit scorer for Florida Atlantic at 10.3ppg.

Freshman forward Melinda Myers, standing at 6-foot-2, is averaging 7.0ppg and 6.5rpg - second on the team and has 6 blocks through the first four games.

This will be the first all-time meeting between the FAU and NJIT programs.
 
Northeastern Notes
Northeastern finished the 2013-14 season with a 12-18 overall mark, while closing out the regular season winning four-out-of-seven contests against Colonial Athletic Association members before falling in the quarterfinals of the CAA tournament.

The Huskies graduated one senior, Jewel Tunstull, who earned all-CAA first-team and all-CAA defensive team honors.  She topped the CAA in rebounds (9.8rpg), free throw made (144) and double-doubles (13) while averaging 15.5ppg to lead the Huskies.

Northeastern is led by first-year head coach Kelly Cole, who arrives after two years as assistant coach at Harvard.  In 13 seasons at the Division I level, Cole has made 11 postseason appearances, eight NCAA tournament berths and three Sweet 16 appearances.

The Huskies were selected to finish seventh out of 10 teams in the Colonial Athletic Association Preseason Coaches' Poll.  Senior guard A'Lece Mark, who averaged 15.0ppg in 21 games for the Huskies a year ago, was selected to the all-CAA first-team.

Northeastern holds a 2-1 mark heading into the Florida Atlantic Thanksgiving Tournament with wins over Boston University (75-74) on a game-winning layup by Francesca Sally with nine seconds left on the clock in the season opener and Marist (58-51).  The lone loss came at the hands of No. 22/24 Rutgers (74-60) on November 18.

The Huskies are led by three-double figure scorers paced by junior forward Samantha DeFreese's 18.0ppg, followed by junior Tiffany Montagne at 15.7ppg..  Montagne is shooting 40% from the 3-point range (10-25) while A'lece Mark is averaging 11.0ppg.

Northeastern holds a 2-0 win/loss record against the Highlanders.
 
North Dakota State
North Dakota State completed the 2013-14 season with a 6-24 overall mark and is predicted to finish ninth in the Summit League Preseason Coaches' Poll.

The Bison return three starters from the 2013-14 squad – guard Brooke LeMar and junior forwards Holly Johnson and Marena Whittle.  LeMar, the reigning Summit League Newcomer of the Year and second-team all-league, was selected to the Preseason All-League first team after averaging 15.1ppg and 5.3apg.

North Dakota State opened the 2014-15 season with a home victory over Kent State (74-68) on November 14 and dropped a four-point decision to Milwaukee (77-73).  The Bison's latest loss came against Western Michigan (74-59) on November 19.

In the opening three contests, the Bison have four players averaging double-figures paced by LeMar at 19.3ppg.  She also tops the team with 10 assists and is shooting an impressive 85% from the free throw line (22-26).

Junior forwards Marena Whittle and Kahla Becken are averaging 11.3ppg and rounding out the Bison scoring is classmate Holly Johnson at 10.0ppg.  Whittle is the team leader with 9.3rpg followed by 6-foot Johnson at 7.0rpg.

North Dakota State was on the first Division I schedule that NJIT played in 2006-07. The teams played home-and-home that year and the Bison won both.

For live in-game updates, follow @NJITHighlanders on twitter.