Basketball Spotlight: Devils Rebound to Defeat NJIT Saturday, December 11, 2004 By Bob Heller USIP Sports Information Director The University of the Sciences women's basketball team rebounded from their poor performance on Thursday night against Bloomfield College with a solid game today against a good New Jersey Institute of Technology(NJIT) squad, defeating the Highlanders 70-55. The Devils shot 54.2% in the first half and 51.% for the game. USP got another strong performance from Shelby Rance (So., Central Columbia HS/ Bloomsburg, PA). Rance scored a game-high 22 points, connecting on seven of 11 shots from the field, including 2-for-3 from beyond the three-point arc. Shelby was also a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Joining Rance in double figures were Rashanna Edwards (So., West Windsor-Plainsboro HS/Plainsboro, NJ) and Rashanna Edwards (So., West Windsor-Plainsboro HS/Plainsboro, NJ). Shumoski scored 13 points, dished out eight assists had three blocked shots and six steals. Edwards added 12 points on 4-for-8 shooting and had six assists. Despite their solid shooting effort in the first half, the Devils still found themselves trailing by one, 32-31 as the second half began. USP opened the period with a 16-6 run to take a nine-point lead 47-38 with 14:26 left in the game. Edwards had six of her 12 points during this stretch while Shumoski chipped in four. After NJIT's Selena Kershaw made a layup to pull the Highlanders within seven 47-40, the Devils scored five straight points to take a double-digit lead 52-40 midway through the period. An 8-3 run by the Highlanders cut the lead to seven again 55-48 with 6:29 left but Rance quickly put the Devils back up by 10 59-49 with a basket and a pair of free throws. Davitra Goode's (So., Central Islip HS/Central Islip, NY) two free throws at the 4:53 mark made the score 61-49. USP maintained their double-digit lead for the remainder of the game, opening their biggest lead of 17, 70-53 with just 1:27 left. NJIT's Jackie McCaffrey added a pair of free throws with 1:12 left to make the final score 70-55. Second half free throw shooting played a big role for the Devils. Two night's earlier against Bloomfield, the Devils made just one of eight free throws in the second half. Today, against NJIT, USP connected on 15 of 18 in the second period, including 9 of 10 in the final 5:14. The Devils improve to 5-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play. USP is now off until after Christmas when they will host the USP Holiday Classic on December 28th and 29th, taking on Glenville State on the 28th and Bowie State on the 29th.