JACKSONVILLE, FL—Sophomore forward Kayla Gordon scored 12 of her game-high 18 points in the first half, lifting Jacksonville to its third-straight win in Atlantic Sun Conference play, toping visiting, NJIT, 68-37, at the Historic Swisher Gymnasium in the annual Play 4Kay game.
Jacksonville (8-3 A-Sun, 16-10 overall) had four players in double-figures, paced by Gordon's game-high 18 followed by sophomore guard Brandi Buie (17), junior guard Sherranda Reddick (13) and redshirt junior forward Christin Mercer (10).
Gordon recorded her seventh double-double of the season and the 12
th of her career after finishing with 10 boards. The Dolphins held a 40-to-23 advantage on the glass. Gordon shot 7-for-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from the charity stripe. Mercer added eight rebounds for the home team. Guard Jasmyn Brown filled up the stat sheet Saturday with six points, six rebounds, four assists and two steals.
NJIT (1-11 A-Sun, 4-23) was led by its lone senior
Ronni Grandison with 10 points on 5-of-11 shooting from the field. Point guard
Alana Dudley scored eight points, shooting 4-for-9 from the field. Dudley's streak of 25 games with one or more assists came to a halt Saturday. The junior has 84 assists on the year with two regular season games remaining on the schedule.
Freshman guard
Tatianna Torres came off the bench to match her personal-best 7 points (done previously on two different occasions) while Grandison and sophomore forward
Maria Ruban shared team-high honors with three rebounds.
The Dolphins shot 54.2 percent from the floor in the first half heading into halftime with a 34-22 advantage and finished the game shooting 51 percent (28-for-55).
NJIT will return to action on Monday at 7pm when the Highlanders visit North Florida in UNF Arena. In the first meeting, North Florida defeated NJIT, 68-51, in Newark.
