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 Seric posts career-high 18 points |
March 8, 2008
EDINBURG, TX - NJIT women's basketball closed out play Saturday in the national Division I Independent Tournament , with a 2-1 record, defeating Utah Valley, 77-72, in the final day of the tournament hosted by Texas-Pan American.
The result also left the Highlanders with a final record of 10-19 in their first season under coach Margaret McKeon and their second season of Division I competition. This season they more than doubled their 2006-07 win output of four in a 4-24 season that included three Division I wins.
NJIT's record of 8-9 from January 8 on underlined the young team's improvement as it progressed through its second season at the new level of competition.
On Saturday, Ivana Seric, the freshman forward who made her NJIT debut on January 8 on Texas-Pan American's court, posted a career-high 18 points, plus six rebounds and four assists. She shot 8-for-16 from the field.
Division I Independent Newcomer of the Year Jessica Gerald finished with 16 points, collecting half of them on 8-for-10 shooting at the foul line.
She scored a team-leading eight points in the first half, which ended on a floater by freshman Adriana Johnson to put NJIT up two, 37-35.
Erika Velez, the only senior on the NJIT roster. closed out her career posting 13 points while sharing game-high honors with five assists and four steals.
Julie McMurray, a sophomore swing player for Utah Valley, led all scorers with a career-high 26 points, while center Robin Fairbanks added 21 points and a game-high 11 rebounds for the Wolverines. However, the other three Utah Valley starters combined for 14 points.
Fairbanks, who picked up her second consecutive Division I Independent Player of the Year award before the tournament began, can have an impact on games something akin to what Shaquille O'Neal did in his younger NBA days.
Indeed, Fairbanks had 34 points, 17 rebounds and six blocked shots in an 82-72 loss to NJIT in Newark on February 21.
After she scored six points in Saturday's first half, Fairbanks delivered 15 second-half points on 6-for-8 shooting. McMurray, too, was effective, pouring in 12 points over the final 20 minutes.
But with Utah Valley's stars playing at a high level, the Highlanders absorbed their best blows and outscored the top-seeded Wolverines in the second half, 40-37, led by 12 points from Seric.
With 11:27 left in the second half, the Highlanders stretched its their lead to eight on a lay-up by Seric. Utah Valley's McMurray hit a three-pointer from the left wing on the next play down but NJIT built a 15-point lead over next 5:30, as Velez hit her final points as a Highlander from behind the arc, going up 67-52 with 5:36 left.
Utah Valley fought back and found itself down six after a three-pointer by Sandy Marvin with less than one minute to go. Fairbanks finished with a hook shot in the paint cutting the deficit to four, 74-40, with 39 seconds left.
NJIT's junior guard Jill Dickinson went to the free throw line with 25 seconds remaining, and hit one of two, before Fairbanks scored what would be Utah Valley's final points of with 15 seconds on the clock.
The Wolverines fouled Taiwo Oyelola with 10 seconds left and the NJIT sophomore sunk both of her free throws for a two-possession lead that sealed the win.
The season-ending win for NJIT represented another remarkable advancement in its series vs. Utah Valley. In 2006-07, the Wolverines dominated, winning both games by 31-point margins.
And in this season's first contest on February 7 in Orem, Utah, the Wolverines won again, 78-69. But NJIT evened the season series with an 82-72 win when the teams played in Newark on February 21 and then the Highlanders picked up another win Saturday against the No. 1 seed in the tournament, Utah Valley, slipping away with a 77-72 victory.
Other highlights among the 10 victories was a win that came against defending America East Conference champion UMBC, 58-44, on November 28.
On January 8 and January 28, NJIT swept a two-game regular season series from a Division I opponent for the first time, taking Texas-Pan American twice in the regular season before grabbing another win, 59-49, in the second round of the National Independent Tournament on March 7.
