NEWARK, NJ—Redshirt freshman Kelly Guarino made four of her team-leading seven 3-point baskets in the second half and NJIT, ahead by two at halftime, pulled away for a 71-50 women's basketball win over visiting College of St. Joseph Saturday afternoon in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Guarino, who sustained three torn anterior cruciate ligament injuries while in high school, did not compete for NJIT in 2014-15, when, as a freshman, she spent the year rehabbing from her latest surgery.
 
Five games into her college playing career, Guarino has taken over the team scoring lead on the Highlanders, upping her rookie points per game average to 10.2
 
She struggled with 2-for-9 combined shooting from the field in her first two college games, but she broke through with 17 points in a loss at undefeated Marshall on November 22, making 5-of-10 tries from distance. Two games later, on Saturday afternoon, she topped that with 7-for-8 shooting from downtown (7-for-9 overall) and a team-leading 21 points for NJIT (2-3) against St. Joe's, a small-college program from Rutland, VT.
 
Guarino's seven 3-pointers were two short of the program record nine, set in January 2011 by Rayven Johnson (Class of 2013) Guarino is now 16-for-30 (53 percent) from downtown in five games this season.
 
She was the only double-figure Saturday scorer for the Highlanders, who got 8 points each from Camerin Spahn and Alana Dudley and Dudley was credited with a game-best 8 assists.
 
Leah Horton scored 7 points and led the Highlanders with 10 rebounds, while Kayla Diaz and Bianca Picard each scored six, with Picard's points coming on 2-for-3 shooting on 3-point tries. As a team, NJIT shot a season-best 13-for-26 on threes.
 
College of St. Joseph, which is the alma mater of NJIT head coach Steve Lanpher (Class of 1987), has done well in women's basketball, reaching the 2015 National Championship game of the  small-college United States Collegiate Athletic Association.
 
The Lady Saints (2-1) got 21 points and 7 rebounds on Saturday from senior transfer guard Arreonte Anderson, who shot 8-for-16 from the floor, including 4-for-5 on 3-pointers.
 
Anderson was the only double-figure scorer for the visitors, who got 9 points from senior guard Mookie Kennedy. Senior center Regina Steele led CSJ with 10 rebounds and her 9 blocked shots were one shy of the NJIT opponents'-record 10 blocks by Wagner's Ali Ridge in January 2007.
 
The Highlanders won by a comfortable 21-point margin, but the game was closely-contested through the first two quarters. NJIT had an 18-14 lead after one and it took a Guarino 3-pointer with 49 seconds remaining in the second quarter to stake the Highlanders to a 30-28 halftime lead.
 
The Highlanders quickly extended their two-point halftime lead to 36-28 by opening the third quarter on a 6-0 run, with an Alana Dudley layup, two free throws by Horton and a Camerin Spahn jump shot in the first 2:25 of the period.
 
A later 10-0 run, keyed by two threes for Guarino, pushed NJIT's advantage to double digits, 44-32, after a Guarino triple with 3:53 left in the third quarter. The Highlanders eventually went up by 17 points when a fast-break layup by Horton gave NJIT a 51-34 lead with 1:42 remaining in the quarter.
 
Guarino ended the quarter with a 3-pointer and NJIT held a 54-38 lead after outscoring the Lady Saints 24-10 in the third period. 
 
Guarino left the floor after picking up her fourth personal foul 18 seconds into the fourth quarter and she did not return, but NJIT still outscored the Lady Saints in the fourth quarter, 17-12, for the final score of 71-50.
 
The Highlanders had a taken their biggest lead of the afternoon, 23 points, when Maria Ruban's layup made the score 71-48 with 23 seconds remaining.
 
NJIT will play the remainder of its schedule against NCAA Division I opponents, beginning with a game Wednesday at 5 pm on Staten Island, NY, at Wagner.