NEWARK, NJ—NJIT senior point guard Alyssa Albanese scored the two biggest of her team-leading 12 points on a tie-breaking drive to the basket with 41 seconds left and the Highlanders went on to defeat visiting Morgan State 52-49 in women's basketball Wednesday night in the Fleisher Athletic Center.
 
Albanese, who was celebrating her 22nd birthday Wednesday, played all but the 27 seconds following her layup when she had to come off the floor for treatment of a leg cramp. She  added a game-high 6 assists and also pulled down 5 rebounds to key NJIT's second win a row, which raised the Highlanders'  overall record to 10-15.
 
Morgan (9-14) lost despite a game-high 21 points from senior guard Tracey Carrington. She also grabbed 8 rebounds for the Lady Bears, who outrebounded the Highlanders, 48-38, and got 11 boards from junior Dinah Jones and another eight from sophomore Ivy Harrington. Freshman Braennan Farrar finished with 10 points to give Morgan State a second double-figure scorer.
 
Albanese was the only double-figure scorer for the victorious Highlanders, who put nine players in the scoring column. Sophomore Leah Horton finished with 8 points, while fellow sophomore Ruta Vetra, coming off a career-best 11 points in the previous game vs. Division III College of St. Joseph (VT), scored 7 points Wednesday against the Division I Lady Bears from Baltimore. Vetra also tied her career rebounding high with five.
 
NJIT, which led at the half, 24-20, actually fell behind 32-27 in the opening 3:47 of the second half. However, the Highlanders came back and took a 39-38 lead with 11:31 left on a pair of Vetra free throws.
 
There were several times in the game where NJIT seemed poised ready to open up its lead, but the Highlanders they never gained any elbow room until a 6-0 burst that turned a 41-40 advantage in a 47-40 lead in a span of 76 seconds.
 
All three baskets in the 6-0 spurt were assisted, two by Albanese, as Olivia Dudley, Vetra, and Horton hit open jump shots in succession, with Horton's bucket coming with 7:03 on the clock.
 
Even then, the momentum proved to be fleeting, as NJIT went all the way to the 1:33 mark without another point until senior Kim Tullis made jump shot to break an elongated 9-0 run for the visitors and tie the score at 49 apiece.
 
Another NJIT senior, the program's career blocked shots leader, Nicole Maticka, got two big ones with the game in the balance, The first came on the possession after Tullis' tying jumper, with Maticka rejecting a driving layup attempt by Morgan freshman Lexus Spears with 1:06 remaining on a bid to by the Lady Bears to retake the lead.
Tullis came away with the ball for a defensive rebound and passed  to Albanese, who has had the ball in her hands in similar spots many times before. Two games ago against Delaware State, the 5-foot-3 senior hit a buzzer-beating shot at the end of the second half  to force overtime in a game NJIT ultimately lost, 54-46.
 
This time, she took the crucial shot with the score tied and she used her quickness to slither through the land and score the go-ahead bucket.
 
Facing a one-plus-one free throw opportunity, Tullis made the first, pushing the home team's lead to three points. She missed the second and with five seconds left, Morgan State's Carrington launched a 3-point attempt that went off the right side of the rim before Maticka secured the rebound and the Highlanders held the ball for the final couple of seconds.
 
Neither team led by more than five points in a first half that ended with the Highlanders holding the slim 24-20 advantage. Morgan State's Farrar scored 8 first-half points to lead all scorers and Carrington ended the half with 7 points. On the other side, Albanese's 7 points were tops for NJIT
 
NJIT will escape the cold winter weather of the Northeast for a few days, traveling to Texas-Pan American for a game in the Rio Grande Valley near the United States-Mexico border Monday at 7 pm (CST). While the overnight low temperature in Newark Sunday into Monday is forecast to be 2 degrees (F), the forecast for Edinburg, Texas, calls for an overnight low of 62 degrees and a high Monday of 81 degrees.
 
Texas-Pan American visited Newark on January 7 and the Highlanders prevailed, 59-54. Since losing to the Highlanders, UTPA has won six of its ensuing eight games, with two more to be played before the Broncs entertain NJIT. The two games are on the road, where Texas-Pan American is 2-7, compared to 10-2 at home.