The NJIT Highlanders Women’s Basketball Team (1-0) muscled past the Rider Broncos (0-1) 50-45 at the NJIT Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Marissa Gingrich led NJIT in scoring with 21 points, while Mia Gestosani added 14 and Allison Cannon added 10.

Head Coach Mike Lane on the victory: “The first game was a little sloppy, and we didn’t like some things, but it was good to be on the right side of it—a really good win against a tough team. We scrimmaged Rider last year, which was fairly close, and they retooled their roster. We knew we had a lot to guard tonight, and I’m really proud of our defense to hold a team like that in the 40s.”

“This felt like a conference game. We obviously love our America East competition, but when we’re playing Rider, St. Peter’s, Monmouth, FDU, and now Merrimack and Marist coming up, these games are really tight. We generally know the rosters because there are a lot of Jersey kids and players we’ve recruited. There’s an intensity to them, and it feels like a league game and a lot of fun.” 

The Highlanders fell behind early, 8-4, but roared back with a 12-0 run. They established a presence in the paint, which led to an edge in points in the paint, and they knocked down shots from behind the arc. Allison Cannon and Mia Geostani each delivered eight points as NJIT led 18-11 at the end of the first quarter.

Lane said, “Our game was to punish the rim, and we were doing that early. We just had to attack the basket and we were doing that really well.”

In the second quarter, Rider answered back emphatically with a 10-0 spurt to reclaim the advantage at 21-20 with three and a half minutes remaining. 

“We just got really sloppy. I think we had turnovers in five straight possessions, and those unforced turnovers were our own undoing. That’s a real issue, and we seem to do that a lot when we build a lead. We need that killer instinct and the discipline to keep playing our game and keep putting the points up.”

Fortunately, the Highlanders responded and closed the first half on an 8-2 run to take a 28-23 lead at halftime. They then continued to dominate, holding a 20-10 edge in points in the paint and a 9-2 advantage in second-chance points.

“We responded well there with great poise and leadership. It felt good where we were at halftime, and a five-point lead felt big in this game,” Mike Lane stated. 

In the third quarter, the Highlanders came firing out of the gates. Marissa Gingrich picked up the offensive slack after Allison Cannon exited the game with a knee injury, and Gingrich notched seven points that pushed NJIT to a double-digit margin at 37-24. 

Meanwhile, the Highlanders’ defense amped up its intensity with a tenacious man-to-man strategy and a formidable wall in the paint, registering its seventh blocked shot. The Broncos did not score their first points of the quarter until the five-minute mark.

Marissa Gingrich in the zone tallied her 11th point in the quarter as NJIT maintained the double-digit lead, but Rider responded with a brief run to narrow the gap to 39-35 at the end of the period.

“A senior stepped up in that moment. She’s been a three-year starter and has logged a lot of minutes. She’s moved into a primary scorer role and is embracing it. She still has to learn and settle for some threes late in the first half when we were trying to get her some ball screens to attack, but she can score from anywhere and was getting threes, finishing at the rim, getting pull-ups, and getting to the free-throw line.”

Once the fourth quarter began, the Highlanders pushed the lead to 43-38 on a dazzling layup by Mia Gestosani, who got fouled and converted the three-point play.

“Mia had a great game, and I’m super proud of her. She was behind a lot of really good guards last year, but she kept getting better and earned a role. She got quality minutes, though not a lot, as a freshman. She had a good spring and summer, trusts her game, and so do her teammates. That’s a testament to how we’re playing every day and getting tested before coming out on the floor and playing at a high level.”

The Broncos stayed within striking distance, but NJIT managed to hit their free throws down the stretch and went 9-for-15 in the quarter to prevail in the end.

“We have to do a better job, and I would like a couple more. That’s just game pressure, and we don’t get that in practice. We have to be able to step to the line and knock them down. I thought we showed great poise getting fouled, controlling the ball, and stepping up there.”

The Highlanders return to action on Thursday, November 5th, hosting the Merrimack Warriors(0-1) with tip-off slated for 6 p.m. at the NJIT Joel and Diane Bloom Wellness Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.

“A tough three-game week off the bat and three official Metro-America East Challenge games. We did play Merrimack last year in the WNIT,” Mike Lane referenced. “It’s a completely different team and staff, and they have 14 to 15 new kids. The game we played them before doesn’t mean anything because those kids weren’t there. It’s a deep dive right away, and we’ve got to be ready to defend our home floor again on Thursday night.” 

NJIT WBB Head Coach Mike Lane Post-Game Video Interview: