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The NJIT women's basketball team, which has played its last three contests on the road, will return back home to the Fleisher Athletic Center on Sunday, December 30 and host University of Rhode Island at 2pm and close out the 2012 calendar year.
 
NJIT (6-8) has dropped its previous three contests since returning back to action after exams.  The tough stretch for NJIT first started with visiting Atlantic 10 opponent Virginia Commonwealth University on December 21 (L, 64-52), traveling to No. 11/10 Penn State, the defending Big 10 champions on December 23 (L, 82-37) and faced off against Big East St. John's, which advanced to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen last season, on December 28 (L, 55-37).
 
The Highlanders, which started off the season with a program-best 4-1 record, is 4-2 at home on Fleisher Family Court.  The last win at home came against Delaware State (W, 55-42) on December 8.
 
The Highlanders are led by senior guard Rayven Johnson who is averaging 17.1ppg and 9.2rpg.  Johnson has registered double-figure scoring totals in 12-out-of-14 games this season with five 20-point performances.  The 5-foot-9 guard comes into Sunday's contest with 995 career points, ranking the senior eighth all-time in the NJIT record books.
 
Sophomore Sarah Olson is averaging just under 10ppg (9.9ppg) while connecting on a team-best 34 three-pointers.  Forward Uju Nwankwo leads the team with 25 total blocks, ranks second with 6.2rpg and is averaging 7.9ppg for the Highlanders.
 
Rhode Island Notes
Rhode Island, winners of its last three out of five games, comes into Sunday's contest with a 5-7 overall record and 0-2 on the road. 
 
Rhode Island will be the second team out of the Atlantic 10 conference that the Highlanders will face this season.  In the last meeting between the two teams, Rhode Island defeated NJIT in Newark, as the visiting Rams overcame a 10-point second-half deficit in a 57-51 comeback win.
 
Rhode Island is coming off a 78-52 loss at Providence as the Rams struggled in the first half, shooting just 25.9% (7-27) from the field with no player netting more than one basket. The Rams also connected on just 3-of-8 attempts from the line while PC held a 27-18 rebounding advantage over the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Rams, which were selected to finish last in the 2012-13 Atlantic 10 Preseason Coaches poll, finished last season with a 1-28 overall record, 0-14 in the A-10.
 
Rhode Island is led by freshman guard Tayra Melendez, the Rams only double-figure scorer with 10.5ppg and a team-high 14 steals. 
 
Emilie Cloutier, a 6-foot-1 junior forward and freshman forward Samantha Tabakman are both averaging 9.3ppg while Tabakman, the Rams 6-foot-3 forward leads the team with 7.8rpg.
 
Fans can follow all the action live on www.njithighlanders.com, which will carry a live video stream and webcast play-by-play and commentary from Michael Ventola, as well as an in-game real-time stat feed. Audio coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. with tip off set for 2 p.m.