Game 17	vs. Jacksonville (9-8, 2-2 ASUN; 24-9, 12-2 ASUN in 2017-18)
Date | Time	Saturday, January 19, 2019 | 1pm
Location | Arena	Newark, NJ | Wellness and Events Center (100 Lock Street)
Live Video	ESPN+ | Michael Ventola (PBP); Dave Calloway (Color)
Live Stats	In-game statistics (free)
All-time series	Jacksonville leads 6-0
Game Notes	NJIT Notes (PDF) | Jacksonville Notes (PDF)

NEWARK, NJ—NJIT (5-11, 2-1 ASUN) will look for the programs first all-time win over visiting Jacksonville (9-8, 2-2 ASUN) on Saturday in ASUN Conference action at NJIT's Wellness and Events Center.  Tip-off is slated for 1pm on ESPN+.

As part of a doubleheader with the NJIT men, the Highlanders will host the Dolphins from Jacksonville at 4pm on ESPN+.

NJIT will close out a short two-game stretch at home, hosting the Dolphins, before taking on the Stetson Hatters on Tuesday, January 22 at 7pm in DeLand, Florida on ESPN+.

The Highlanders are coming off an 80-67 home victory over Lipscomb, paced by graduate student Kelly Guarino, who scored a team-high 20 points, leading four double-figure scorers in front of a capacity crowd of 1,903 grade school students from various local schools on Education Day.

The five wins surpasses last season's win-out mark.

Guarino, who scored 12 of her 20 points in the second half, finished 4-for-10 from three-point range and a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line.  Her five assists is a season-best mark.

In addition to Guarino, graduate student Tatianna Torres, just missed posting a double-double, netting 16 points and nine rebounds.  Torres led the game dishing out seven assists and the Highlanders as a team finished with a season-best 24.

Junior transfer Milena Bajic finished with 13 points and six rebounds, shooting 6-for-7 from the field, including two blocks while classmate Danielle Tunstall scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

Sophomore Dez Allen combined for nine points, seven rebounds and a personal-best four blocks in 22 minutes of action off the bench for the Highlanders.  As a team, NJIT finished with a season-best 11 blocks.

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 Dave Calloway.

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
Saturday will mark the seventh time the two squads will meet with the Dolphins holding a 6-0 advantage.

A Look Inside the Highlander Squad
NJIT enters Saturday's contest with a 5-11 overall record, 2-1 in the ASUN.  NJIT, which sits tied for third heading into the this weekend, registered its first ASUN win in league action at home against Kennesaw State on January 5, 66-60, to open the New Year and most recently topped the Lady Bisons, 80-67 on Tuesday afternoon.

As a team, the Highlanders set three season-best marks -- points (80), assists (24) and blocks (11).

The Highlanders, begin a new era under first-year head coach Mike Lane, who 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.

Guarino, who ranks in the top five in the ASUN in points-per-game (14.9), tops the conference in three-pointers made (52) and free throw percentage (87.0) while sitting in fourth in three-point percentage (43.7).  She has scored in double-figures in the last 10-out-of-11 games, including three 20+ performances.

Junior Danielle Tunstall ranks third in the ASUN in rebounding (8.0rpg), posting double-digit rebounds in the last four-out-of-seven games.  The 5-foot-11 forward, ranks seven in the ASUN in blocks, has registered six blocks in the last two games.

Sophomore Ellyn Stoll is averaging just below 10.0ppg (9.0) and ranks second on the team with 40 assists while graduate student Tatianna Torres is averaging 8.6ppg with a team-leading 41 assists.

Scouting the Dolphins
Jacksonville comes to NJIT with a 9-8 overall record and an even 2-2 in the ASUN, most recently dropping a close decision, 62-59, at newcomer North Alabama.

The Dolphins, winners of the last four-out-of-six contests, currently lead the ASUN in rebounding with 41.8 per game.  Senior Trudy Walker tops the ASUN Conference with 10.1rpg.

Jasmyn Brown, the Dolphins leader in points at 14.6ppg, has reached double-digit scoring in all but two games.  Brown is coming off a 17-point performance at North Alabama.
Walker (57.7) and Kiara Meeks (48.2) both rank among the ASUN's top-five in field goal percentage.

Darnell Haney, in his first season as head coach at Jacksonville, served as associate head coach the last two seasons under former head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin, who recently departed for Ole Miss.

In the 2017-18 season, Jacksonville won a program-best 24 games (24-9), eclipsing the previous record of 23 tied by the previous year's squad.

ASUN Preseason Coaches' Poll
After winning last year's ASUN Conference women's basketball championship title, FGCU was picked to repeat by the league's head coaches in the 2018-19. The Eagles garnered eight first-place votes among the head coaches in the league, while also being selected first in the media poll.

FGCU totaled 80 points in the coaches' poll to lead the way, while newcomer Liberty earned the final first-place vote and finished second place with 71 points.

Stetson came in third with 63 points while the Dolphins finished 10 points behind the Hatters in the coaches' poll with 53 points.

Kennesaw State and North Florida were picked fifth and sixth, respectively, while Lipscomb, North Alabama and NJIT rounded out the coaches poll selections.