Senior guard Talicia Jackson scored a team-high 11 points and recorded six rebounds as the AU women's basketball team won its season opener over the New Jersey Institute of Technology Friday, 70-63.
The Eagles jumped out to the early 7-3 lead only two minutes into the first half on the strength of Jackson's five points during the opening stretch.
The Highlanders would answer right back, going on a 6-0 run to take a 9-7 lead, a margin they would increase to 11-7 only four minutes into the ballgame.
AU would go on a 7-3 run of their own over the next seven minutes to re-tie the game at 14 with freshman guard Raven Harris hitting a jump shot to knot the game up with less than 10 minutes remaining in the half.
The Eagles started to pull away during the rest of the half, outscoring the Highlanders 24-16 over the remaining time to take a 38-30 lead heading into the break.
The Eagles' largest lead of the game came off of a sophomore forward Michelle Kirk jump shot only three minutes into the second half, to put AU up 11, 41-30.
NJIT would continue to battle throughout the second half, climbing to within one point with 9:45 remaining thanks to a free throw by junior forward Taiwo Oyelola to put the score at 51-50.
However, the Eagles were too strong in the end, as redshirt junior guard Nicole Ryan and senior forward Sarah Nusseibeh each scored down the stretch to build the Eagles back to a seven-point cushion and the eventual 70-63 margin of victory.
"We were able to get scoring contributions from a lot of players tonight," Head Coach Matt Corkery told AUeagles.com. "Our bench was able to come in and give us solid minutes and our upperclassmen hit big baskets down the stretch to preserve the win."
Ryan, playing in her first game back since the 2006-2007 season, scored 10 points to join Jackson as the only Eagles to score double-digits in the game.
You can reach this staff writer at jhall@theeagleonline.com.
