HAMILTON, N.Y. – Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary) scored a career-high 19 points to lead Mount St. Mary's past Colgate 60-39 in the women's basketball season opener for both teams.

Westbrooks did most of her damage from the free throw line after converting 11 of 12 from the charity stripe while after hitting 4 of 8 from the field. The sophomore posted her first career double-figure performance in her career and added a team-high nine rebounds in the Mount's (1-0) first season opening victory since 1999-00.

Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) tallied 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and three steals while Hassanah Oliver (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) posted 16 points in the winning effort.

Candice Green led the Raiders (0-1) with 10 points while Katie Garman and Kelly Korkowski each recorded seven points in the loss.

Mount St. Mary's took the advantage midway through the first half and never looked back to take the season opener and the first meeting against Colgate

Mount St. Mary's grabbed the lead midway through the first half that it would not relinquish. After Sami Kozlowski handed the Raiders an 8-7 edge with 11:51, Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) nailed a jumper 20 seconds later to give the Mount a 9-8 edge. Westbrooks then scored four-straight points on a jumper and two free throws to extend the advantage to five points.

The two teams then traded points back and forth for the next seven minutes before the Mountaineers closed the half scoring the final five points to go into the locker room with a 26-18 margin. Kendra Brim converted two free throws to trim the margin to three points for the fourth time in the seven minute span. Gauthier started the surge to end the stanza on a jumper with 1:42 left in the first half before Oliver converted three free throws in the final seconds to extend the lead to 26-18.

Mount St. Mary's started the second half by scoring the first six points to take a double-figure advantage. Westbrooks scored in the paint 32 seconds into the stanza before Gauthier nailed a 3-pointer at 18:21. Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) capped the 6-0 run by converting the first of two free throws for her first collegiate point at 17:50 for a 32-18 advantage.

The Raiders cut the margin to 45-34 with 5:31, but could get no closer after Oliver and Westbrooks combined for the next 10 points to hand Mount St. Mary's a 55-34 margin with 2:17 on the clock.

The 39 points allowed marked the first time the Mountaineers held a team under 40 points since holding Rider to 37 points on Dec. 3, 1983. The Mount won by a margin of 20 points for the first time since defeating Wagner 69-45 on Feb. 19, 2005.

Andresson finished with one point, three rebounds and three steals in 19 minutes in her collegiate debut in the starting lineup. Fellow freshmen Courtney Nyce (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) recorded one rebound in 13 minutes and Katelyn Nowacki (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) hauled in a rebound in two minutes in their college debut.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Wednesday when the squad makes its home debut against Duquesne. Game time is 7 p.m.