Game 12	Kent State (5-4; 13-19, 5-13 MAC in 2017-18) vs. NJIT (3-8; 4-26, 2-12 ASUN in 2017-18
Date | Time	Friday, December 21, 2018 | 2pm
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Wellness and Events Center (100 Lock Street)
Live Video	ESPN+ | Michael Ventola (PBP); David Gass (Color)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
All-time series	First meeting
Game Notes	NJIT Notes  (PDF) | Kent State Notes

NEWARK, NJ--Coming off a pair of road victories, NJIT will look to keep its win streak alive on Friday at 2pm, welcoming first-time opponent Kent State on Faculty/Staff Appreciation Day inside the Wellness and Events Center.

NJIT (3-8) picked up its second straight road victory at Colgate, 71-53, pouring in 30 points in the first quarter and a holding a 20-point cushion heading into the half, 41-21.

Graduate student Kelly Guarino netted a career-best 28 points and seven three-pointers, leading four double figure scorers in the Highlanders win.

Reigning ASUN Conference Player of the Week, Guarino set a new career high with 28 points, finishing 7-for-12 from three-point range and 10-for-17 from the field.  The seven three-pointers match Guarino's career-best mark (7 at Virginia; December 5, 2015).

With 36 three-pointers on the season, Guarino moves into the top spot in the ASUN Conference and ranks second in three-point percentage (45.6).  The 5-foot-7 guard has connected on 216 three-pointers for her career, which is the top mark in the NJIT Division I era and six shy the NJIT all-time record.

Watch Game Live on ESPN+
The game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Michael Ventola, the voice of the Highlander women, will handle the play-by-play with and color analysis from David Gass.

A simple way to find ESPN+ is on NJIT's official athletics website, www.njithighlanders.com. Near the middle of the home page under the headlines section, an upcoming events calendar lists scheduled NJIT contests. After finding the event, click the camera icon to the left of the event listing. That brings you to an ESPN+ portal where you can access the desired program.

All-Time Series
Friday will mark the first all-time meeting between Kent State and NJIT.  In fact, Kent State will be the first opponent from the Mid-American Conference NJIT will face.

A Look Inside the Highlander Squad
NJIT enters Friday's game with a 3-8 overall record -- with wins coming against Western Carolina, 79-71, LIU Brooklyn, 72-51, and most recently Colgate, 71-53.

The Highlanders begin a new era under first-year head coach Mike Lane.  Lane comes to NJIT after spending six seasons at Bucknell University as the top assistant coach, where he helped guide the Bison to a program-best 27-6 mark, Patriot League title and conference championship while earning a berth to the NCAA Tournament in 2017.

NJIT's trio of Guarino (14.6ppg), Danielle Tunstall (11.5ppg) and Ellyn Stoll (10.7pgg) are on pace to become the top scoring trio in NJIT's D-I program history. They currently sit 4.5ppg above last year's trio of Guarino, Stoll and Tatianna Torres who averaged 32.3ppp over the season.

Guarino's 36 made three-pointers through 11 contests rank first in the ASUN just in front of Chandler Ryan of FGCU (32). The senior ranks tied for ninth across D-I and is one of just 11 players to drain at least 36 threes thus far.

Her 216 career three pointers made also ranks 12th in ASUN history, just four shy of breaking into the top 10 in league history with 220 established by LaTorria Matthews of FAU between 1997 and 2001.

Tunstall has made a big jump in her junior season, averaging a career-high 11.5ppg and 7.7 rpg which ranks third in the ASUN. Tunstall has recorded back-to-back double-doubles in helping NJIT to consecutive road victories, averaging 14.5ppg and 10.5rpg.

Stoll, who is averaging 35 minutes per game, ranks first on the team in assists (30) and steals (13).  Stoll has dished out at least one assist in 10 of NJIT's 11 games, including season-best five assists against Vermont.

Graduate student Tatianna Torres is averaging 7.2ppg and 4.6rpg for the Highlanders.  Her 136 career steals are one shy the NJIT Division I record.  This season Torres has seven steals in 10 games.

Scouting the Golden Flashes from Kent State
Kent State comes into Friday's contest with a 5-4 overall record and winners of its last two. 

After dropping two straight to open the season against North Carolina and North Carolina State, Kent State won three straight against Northern Kentucky, Oakland and Youngstown State.

The Green Flashes had a two game skid and moved back into the win column, with a pair of wins on the road at Robert Morris and most recently St. Bonaventure.

All five starters scored at least eight points to help Kent State secure a wire-to-wire victory over St. Bonaventure, 76-64.  The 76 points for Kent State, marked the highest scoring game this season.

The Green Flashes are led by three double-figure scorers, paced by Megan Carter with 15.3ppg and 5.1rpg.  Asiah Dingle ranks second on the team in scoring at 12.1ppg followed by Lndsey Thall at 10.1ppg.  Thall and Carter top the team in rebounding at 5.1rpg.

Dingle is coming off a 17-point performance at St. Bonaventure, a career-best for the freshman, registering her fifth double-figure game.

Todd Starkey enters his third season as the head women's basketball coach at Kent State, after earning 2017 Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year for his efforts in guiding Kent State (19-13) to one of biggest turnarounds in NCAA Division I women's basketball during his first season on the sidelines.

Next Up
After closing the pre-holiday portion of the schedule, NJIT returns to action on December 30 against Hartford. This marks the first-ever meeting between NJIT and the America East program in the midst of a three-game home stand for the Highlanders.