The NJIT Highlanders Women’s Basketball Team (2-4) lost its second straight game, 69-68, to the Army West Point Black Knights at the Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Fought to the final buzzer.
⚔️Alejandra Zuniga | 25pts, 5reb
⚔️Trinity Williams | 14pts, 14rebs, 4blk
⚔️Olivia Kulyk | 7pts, 14minOn the road Saturday at Merrimack. Tune in at 2pm on ESPN+.#RollTech pic.twitter.com/QVPTjzGU4p
— NJIT Women’s Basketball (@NJITWBB) November 21, 2024
NJIT fell behind 9-2 four and a half minutes into the first quarter but started to methodically chip away at the deficit due to the stellar play of point guard Alejandra Zuniga, who scored 11 points. At the end of the period, the Highlanders trailed 18-15.
In the second quarter, NJIT trailed 22-17 with eight minutes left when the Highlanders exploded for a 9-0 spurt in two and a half minutes. Alejandra Zuniga continued to dominate on the offensive end, netting five additional points.
2nd QTR | 3:17
NJIT 28, Army West Point 27👌👌👌👌👌👌👌 for Alejandra Zuniga ‼️
The junior is up to a game-best 16pts. pic.twitter.com/4c22HLOyOX
— NJIT Women’s Basketball (@NJITWBB) November 20, 2024
The teams traded baskets and the lead for the rest of the quarter. The Highlanders did most of their damage in the paint, outscoring Army at one point 18-4. By halftime, the score was 35-35.
HALFTIME
NJIT 35, Army West Point 35⚔️Alejandra Zuniga | 18pts, 7-10 FG, 2reb
⚔️Trinity Williams | 4pts, 4rebs#RollTech pic.twitter.com/Js2gv60lXC— NJIT Women’s Basketball (@NJITWBB) November 20, 2024
Once the third quarter commenced, the scoring output slowed considerably. The teams combined for 22 points, with NJIT holding a slim advantage at 48-44. The Highlanders bench played a significant factor in supplying 16 points.
End 3rd QTR
NJIT 48, Army West Point 44Tough take by the reigning @AmericaEast Rookie of the Week Allison Cannon to put NJIT ahead by four.
Tune in on ESPN+ for the final 10 minutes. pic.twitter.com/CBrAs8vfPE
— NJIT Women’s Basketball (@NJITWBB) November 21, 2024
“Allison [Cannon] is coming off the bench scoring today, Aria [Myers] continues to come up and produce and getting production from those guys,” NJIT Head Coach Mike Lane described.
In the fourth quarter, the Highlanders extended their advantage to 52-46 with seven minutes remaining on a nifty layup by Trinity Williams.
However, the Black Knights responded with an emphatic 10-2 run that stretched from less than five minutes until the three-minute mark.
The Highlanders couldn’t contain Trinity Hardy, dropping her 18th point of the night on a fast break layup that put Army West Point ahead 56-54.
NJIT answered with less than two minutes left as Enya Maguire buried a trifecta. The Highlanders held a 58-56 advantage with under thirty seconds remaining, but Black Knights Camryn Tade converted a layup that tied the game up and eventually ended up going to overtime.
BIG 3⃣3⃣3⃣3⃣3⃣ for Enya Maguire ‼️‼️ pic.twitter.com/oNlpIEMTVG
— NJIT Women’s Basketball (@NJITWBB) November 21, 2024
In overtime, the lead continued to fluctuate, with NJIT’s Olivia Kulyk knocking down a triple to boost the Highlanders into the lead 66-65 with one minute to go.
After the Highlanders trailed 67-66, Alejandra Zuniga, relying on her blazing speed, drove to the rim for a fantastic layup off the glass as NJIT reclaimed the lead 68-67 with 24 seconds remaining.
https://twitter.com/NJITWBB/status/1859403197464318079
With time ticking down, there was a mad scramble for the ball in the low paint after a missed jump shot. Then Army’s Kya Smith corralled the ball and flicked a shot off the glass as the Black Knights went ahead 69-68 with 11.4 seconds left.
The Highlanders had one last opportunity to win the game, but after an inbounds play, NJIT had difficulty getting a clean look at the basket and turned the ball over. Army dribbled the basket down the floor and ran out the clock for the victory.
Alejandra Zuniga scored a game-high 25 points for the Highlanders, while Trinity Williams flourished, amassing a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds.
The Black Knights, with four players in double figures, were led by Trinity Hardy’s double-double of 22 points and 11 rebounds.
“We just settled on a lot of shots and had some really crucial turnovers at times from kids we don’t expect to happen and fumbled the ball away” Head Coach Mike Lane explained. “We didn’t deserve to win it and didn’t make the plays to win it.” “Alejandra’s late shot was incredible; Trinity did some things there and [Olivia] Kulyk had a big three so I love those plays, but we didn’t make enough plays ultimately.”
“Army was the better team tonight and, quite honestly, the better team for most of the 45 minutes. We were good and could build some leads, but it was inconsistent. We had a good stretch, then a bad stretch, and we got to find that consistency, which is hard to find in our journey.
“It’s disappointing because we had it but also these are things that we haven’t been good at. We had a great crowd; students and our student-athletes and Army had a big crowd and a great game and college environment, and it was a classic and you hate to be on the wrong end of it.”
NJIT returns to the hardwood court on Saturday against the Merrimack College Warriors(3-2) with a tip-off set for 2 p.m. at the Bert Hammel Court in North Andover, Massachusetts.
“They’ve won three in a row and I know they have a couple of kids back from last year,” Head Coach Mike Lane noted. “They beat Bucknell and New Hampshire which are good teams.”
“The résumé is the résumé, and we have to respond to it. This is a pre-Thanksgiving is a big stretch for us so one loss at home is tough and now we got to go steal one away and need a big effort at Merrimack.”
“We got to put this loss away, we can feel bad but again it’s easier when you have the power to change a lot of this and make you more mad than sad and anger you can work with that and a bit harder when you want to wallow in it and let’s be upset and get better at the things we need to get better at.”
