EMMITSBURG, Md. – Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) and Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary School) combined for 21 first half points to stake Mount St. Mary's to a 13-point lead at the break while Hassanah Oliver (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) recorded 10 points in the second half to maintain the advantage and lift the Mount past Fairfield 66-59 in non-conference women's basketball action on Wednesday.

Dunn recorded 12 points and Westbrooks added nine points in the first half to help the Mount (4-4) jump out to a 15-point advantage and go into the locker room with a 35-22 lead. After the Stags (4-5) trimmed the margin to 46-45 with 7:59 remaining in the final frame, Oliver scored 10 points the rest of the way to help the Mountaineers end a three-game losing streak. Oliver finished with 16 points, Dunn added 14 points and Westbrooks chipped in 11 points.

Mount St. Mary's shot 56.5 percent (26-for-46) from the field in the contest, marking the first time the Mount notched a 55-percent shooting performance since the squad shot 55.9 percent against Canisius on Dec. 1, 2002.

Brianna Gauther (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) also recorded 16 points to help Mount St. Mary's win its fourth non-conference game of the year, the most since the squad went 5-4 in non-league games in 1999-00. The 4-4 start is the Mountaineers best mark since 2001-02.

Baendu Lowenthal fueled Fairfield with 23 points and Tara Flaherty added 12 points off the bench in the loss.

Mount St. Mary's took the lead it would not relinquish four minutes into the game, but had to hold on after the Stags made a furious comeback attempt to even the series against Fairfield after the Stags won the inaugural meeting last season at the Fordham Holiday Tournament.

After the Stags cut the deficit to 46-45 with 7:59 remaining thanks to a 23-9 run, Oliver took over the game. Oliver hit a jumper at 7:03 before Flaherty nailed a jumper of her own. Oliver and Lowenthal then traded baskets before Gauthier robbed the Stags by nailing a bank shot with 4:43 remaining for a 53-49 advantage. Fairfield again traded baskets with Oliver when Geehan scored at 4:24 and Oliver answered at 3:11. Geehan nailed a jumper to once again trim the deficit to a basket, but Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) nailed a jumper at 2:19 and Oliver converted two free throws at 1:35 and the Stags could get no closer the rest of the way.

It did not look like the Mount would need Oliver's exploits to win the game when the night started after the Mountaineers jumped out to a 33-18 lead with 2:48 remaining in the first half.

Mount St. Mary's took the lead for good on a Westbrooks layup at 16:06 and steadily increased the lead. With the squad holding a 19-14 edge, Gauthier rattled off five-straight points and Westbrooks scored in the paint to hand the Mount its first double-digit lead with 7:02 left until halftime, 26-14. Caskins cut the deficit to 10 points on a layup before Dunn converted a traditional 3-point play at 5:04. Lauren Groom answered by converting two free throw, but Dunn and Oliver both drilled jumpers to hand the Mountaineers its largest lead at 33-18 with 2:48 left in the half. Mount St. Mary's went into the locker room with a 35-22 margin.

Fueled by 13 points from Lowenthal, the Stags opened the final stanza on a 23-9 run and cut the deficit to only one point. Oliver then took over to lead the Mount to its third home win of the year. Mount St. Mary's went 2-13 at home last season.

Gauthier moved into second place on the program's all-time career 3-pointers made list with 124 and 28th place on the all-time career points list with 864. Howell cracked the Top-10 in career made treys with 70 made from the behind the arc.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action at home on Saturday against Radford. Game time is 3 p.m.