WALDRON GRAIN & FUEL

02/04 03:42 CST UMass Lowell hosts NJIT after Zuniga's 27-point showing UMass Lowell hosts NJIT after Zuniga's 27-point showing By The Associated Press NJIT Highlanders (13-9, 4-5 America East) at UMass Lowell River Hawks (6-16, 0-9 America East) Lowell, Massachusetts; Thursday, 6 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: NJIT visits UMass Lowell after Alejandra Zuniga scored 27 points in NJIT's 63-61 loss to the Vermont Catamounts. The River Hawks have gone 4-6 in home games. UMass Lowell averages 15.4 turnovers per game and is 4-2 when it turns the ball over less than its opponents. The Highlanders are 4-5 in conference games. NJIT averages 15.0 turnovers per game and is 5-2 when winning the turnover battle. UMass Lowell averages 7.0 made 3-pointers per game, 2.0 more made shots than the 5.0 per game NJIT allows. NJIT averages 66.9 points per game, 0.2 fewer than the 67.1 UMass Lowell allows to opponents. The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play. TOP PERFORMERS: Jaini Edmonds is scoring 13.5 points per game and averaging 3.2 rebounds for the River Hawks. Maddie Rice is averaging 9.4 points and 6.9 rebounds over the last 10 games. Zuniga is averaging 18.5 points and 4.3 assists for the Highlanders. Olivia Kulyk is averaging 15.8 points over the last 10 games. LAST 10 GAMES: River Hawks: 1-9, averaging 58.1 points, 31.4 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 5.2 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 39.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.1 points per game. Highlanders: 5-5, averaging 67.4 points, 33.5 rebounds, 12.2 assists, 6.2 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 44.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.8 points. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.