Maine visits NJIT after Smith's 25-point showing

Audio By Carbonatix

Maine Black Bears (14-11, 9-3 America East) at NJIT Highlanders (15-10, 6-6 America East)

Newark, New Jersey; Saturday, 12 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Maine visits NJIT after Adrianna Smith scored 25 points in Maine's 56-55 win against the UMBC Retrievers.

The Highlanders are 7-6 on their home court. NJIT ranks fifth in the America East with 9.2 offensive rebounds per game led by Ava Locklear averaging 2.1.

The Black Bears are 9-3 in America East play. Maine averages 62.0 points while outscoring opponents by 2.2 points per game.

NJIT scores 66.5 points, 6.7 more per game than the 59.8 Maine gives up. Maine has shot at a 41.5% clip from the field this season, 2.5 percentage points higher than the 39.0% shooting opponents of NJIT have averaged.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Olivia Kulyk is shooting 36.4% from beyond the arc with 2.5 made 3-pointers per game for the Highlanders, while averaging 15.3 points. Alejandra Zuniga is shooting 39.0% and averaging 19.0 points over the past 10 games.

Smith is scoring 21.8 points per game with 9.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists for the Black Bears. Asta Blauenfeldt is averaging 12.8 points and 2.2 rebounds while shooting 47.1% over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Highlanders: 5-5, averaging 63.9 points, 33.1 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 6.1 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 43.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.5 points per game.

Black Bears: 8-2, averaging 65.9 points, 26.9 rebounds, 13.9 assists, 9.1 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 54.6 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.