JACKSONVILLE, FL—Jacksonville senior forward Kayla Gordon scored a game-high 24 points and nine rebounds in the Dolphins 73-53 victory over visiting NJIT in ASUN Conference action Monday night at The Historic Swisher Gymnasium.

The Dolphins, who have reached the 20-win mark the last three seasons, improve to 21-7 overall, 11-2 in the ASUN and will be the second-seed in the tournament.  NJIT drops to 4-24 overall and 2-11 in the ASUN.  The Highlanders will be the eighth-seed in and face top-seeded Florida Gulf Coast on March 2.

Gordon, honored in pre-game ceremonies as the all-time leading rebounder in the Division I era at Jacksonville, shared game-high honors in rebounds at nine with teammate Naqaiyyah Teague.  The senior forward shot 11-for-13 from the field.

Shakayla Nevitt and Alexis Burnes scored 11 and 10 points respectively off the bench for the Dolphins.  Teague grabbed nine rebounds leading the Dolphins to a 44-to-22 advantage on the glass.

Guard Lindsay John chipped in eight points, six assists shooting a perfect 3-for-3 from the field in 20 minutes of action.

NJIT's Kelly Guarino paced the Highlanders with 19 points on 4-of-8 from three-point range an 6-of-11 from the field while freshman guard Ellyn Stoll netted 15 points, shooting a perfect 9-of-9 from the charity strip.

Forwards Jillian Libby and Danielle Tunstall led the Highlanders on the glass, pulling down five boards each.

Jacksonville came out on fire in the opening stanza, 9-0, resulting in an early timeout by the Highlanders.  Kelly Guarino got NJIT on the board, knocking down a three-pointer at the seven-minute mark.

NJIT used a 9-4 spurt to pull within one, 13-12, sparked by a pair of free throws by Ellyn Stoll just under the six-minute mark.  NJIT finished on a 6-0 run in the final 1:30 and took its first lead of the game, 18-17, after two free throws by Guarino.
Jacksonville outscored the visiting Highlanders in the second quarter, 24-9, pushing the Dolphin lead to 41-27.  Guarino scored five of NJIT's nine points in the period.

At the half, Kayla Gordon led all scorers with 16 points while Guarino paced NJIT with 13 points.

The Dolphins kept the momentum into the third quarter, producing 22 points, taking its largest lead of the contest, 63-35, after a layup by Gordon.

Jacksonville scored 31 second chance points and 21 points off turnovers, finishing the game shooting 48.4 percent (31-for-64).  NJIT shot 77.8 percentage from the free throw line (14-for-18) paced by Stoll, who shot 9-for-9.

NJIT will conclude the regular season at USC Upstate on Saturday, February 24 at 1pm.