NJIT WBB holds off late surge by Drexel for third straight win

The NJIT Highlanders Women's Basketball team (6-1) continued its program-best start in the 2025-26 season, withstanding a late charge by the Drexel Dragons (4-2) to win 73-66 at the Joel & Diane Bloom Wellness and Events Center in Newark, New Jersey.

Sophomore guard Olivia Kulyk poured in a game-high 24 points, including canning five trifectas. In comparison, junior guard Marissa Gringrich contributed 21 points, sophomore forward Ava Locklear netted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and sophomore guard Allison Cannon added 10 points. Amaris Baker of Drexel led all scorers with a game-high 35 points.

"An absolute team effort and Piper(Engelby),Mackenzie (Wright-Rawls) and Kyleigh(Welsh) gave us good minutes off the bench," NJIT Mike Lane explained. "We're not very deep right now because of injuries and we just weathered the storm when we had to and got that confidence in the first quarter."

"I think we found our belief we could do this and Drexel is a very good team, program and they made some runs." "They weren't going away and that's why they're good and we got them into enough shots that we liked on our defensive end."

NJIT got off to a blazing start in the first quarter at 11-0 with Ava Locklear and Marissa Gringrich each netting five points apiece. Drexel finally ended the scoreless drought with less than six minutes left.

The Dragons went on a 10-2 run, trimming the advantage. Olivia Kulyk then sank a triple, and Kyleigh Welsh converted a layup as the Highlanders led 18-10 at the end of the quarter.

In the second quarter, NJIT upped the advantage back to double digits at 29-15 behind the sizzling shooting from Olivia Kulyk, who canned back-to-back treys.

"She was huge in the first half and had some deep ones, "NJIT Head Coach Mike Lane described. "We got some other people that can hit them and the nice thing about Olivia she was getting some pull-ups and mid-range game and even post-ups and dribbled down past and rose up over their players."

Drexel responded again with a run of their own by getting out on the fast break, and led by leading scorer Amaris Baker, who supplied 11 points that narrowed the gap to 34-26 at halftime.

In the third quarter, Olivia Kulyk picked up from an impressive first half, sticking her fourth pearl of the game. Allison Cannon then delivered a nifty reverse layup off glass that resulted in a three-point play that extended the Highlanders' advantage to 42-32 with six and a half minutes remaining.

The Dragons switched up their defensive posture to a stifling full-court press that whittled the margin back to single digits, but Olivia Kulyk buried her fifth shot from downtown then added a jumper in the paint to boost the lead up to 49-38.

Marissa Gingrich upped her point total to 16 on a layup that made it 53-42. Still, Amaris Baker kept Drexel in the game and on a hot hand in the quarter, pumping in 14 points that increased her point total to 22 in the game, including knocking down a shot from behind the arc at the buzzer.

"She(Amaris Baker) was really good tonight and not much we could do but I thought we made earn it more in the fourth quarter," NJIT Head Coach Mike Lane cited. "We finally got her going away from her strengths so that was big for us."

In the fourth quarter, the Dragons' tenacious defense forced numerous turnovers, and Drexel succeeded on offense, reeling off a 9-2 run to slice the lead to 55-51 with seven and a half minutes to go.

The Highlanders stymied the Dragons' ferocity, responding with a 6-0 blitz that calmed the contest's high intensity. Drexel, displaying a ton of resilience, charged back on the offensive end to close to within 63-58 at the three-minute mark.

NJIT was able to withstand the late surge as Marissa chucked up her third trifecta of the game that stretched out the lead to 68-59. The Dragons refused to go away quietly with a 5-0 run to make it 68-64 with 26 seconds left.

However, the Highlanders' five free throws in the remaining time held on for the victory.

Photo Credit: NJIT Athletics

NJIT returns to action on Tuesday, November 26th, facing another difficult test, hosting the FDU Knights (3-3), with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m.

"You've got to stay humble with success and it doesn't give us advantage going up against FDU," NJIT Head Coach Mike Lane remarked. "We're confident but this is the success we're here for and if you don't handle it well it's going to come and knock us in the face and we got to continue to work harder."

"There are things we definitely need to get better at and gave up a lot of points today especially in the second half but we're really happy to be 6-1 and it's great for the program." "This is my eighth year and it's amazing where we are right now and a lot of people have gotten this program here and all the players that played before us and they're taking great pride in the program."