EMMITSBURG, Md. – Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) gave Mount St. Mary's the lead for good with five minutes remaining and hit four clutch free throws down the stretch to lift the Mount past Radford 53-46 in non-conference women's basketball action on Saturday.

Trailing 43-42 with 5:45 remaining, Dunn scored in the paint 43 seconds later to hand the Mountaineers (5-4) the lead it would not relinquish. The sophomore then recorded an assist, a rebound and went 4-for-4 from the foul line to seal the victory and help Mount St. Mary's notch its best nine-game start since the 1999-00 campaign and have won five non-conference games for the first time since that season. Dunn finished with 11 points and eight rebounds.

Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) recorded 14 points for the Mount while Hassanah Oliver (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) added 10 points. Sophomore Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary School) narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with eight points and 12 rebounds in the winning effort.

Taleia Moton paced the Highlanders (1-7) with 15 points and Johnette Walker chipped in 13 points in the loss.

In a closing contested tilt neither team to gain more than a six-point advantage in the first 35 minutes before the Mount closed the game on an 11-3 run to earn its second-straight victory.

After Charron Lepper gave Radford its final margin on a layup for a 43-42 edge with 5:45 on the clock, Dunn scored in the paint off a Gauthier assist at 5:02 to switch the lead over to Mount St. Mary's for the final time, 44-43. Gauthier then hit the second of two free throws at 4:31 before Lauren Howell (Quinton, N.J./Sacred Heart) nailed a jumper right inside the 3-point line off a Dunn helper for a 47-43 margin with 2:57 remaining. Westbrooks then hauled in a defensive rebound and scored in the paint to increase the lead to six points with 2:14 on the clock.

Walker converted two free throws at 1:29 to trim the margin to 49-46, but after a Westbrooks defensive rebound Dunn answered with two charity tosses with 20 seconds left and then Dunn hauled in her own rebound on the defensive side to set up two more free throws with 12 ticks on the clock to seal the victory.

The first half was a seesaw battle that saw the Mountaineers grab a 16-12 lead midway through the first half thanks to a 5-0 run. With the Highlanders holding a 12-11 edge with 12:26 remaining in the half, Howell drilled a jumper at 11:49 and Gauthier nailed a 3-pointer one minute later for the four-point lead.

Radford responded to come back and take the lead and the two teams traded the margin until the Highlanders went on a 7-0 in the final five minutes to take 24-19 advantage with 2:01 left. After Moton tied the game at 19 with 5:36 on the clock, Leeper scored in the paint and then converted a traditional 3-point play for a five-point lead with 2:01 left until intermission. Westbrooks hit a free throw and Dunn scored in the paint to cut the deficit to 24-22 going into the locker room.

The Mount took a 34-28 lead in the second half thanks to a 12-6 run to start the second half Gauthier fueled the surge with seven points. Radford came back to take a 40-36 edge thanks a 12-2 run and holding the Mountaineers without a field goal for eight minutes. Mount St. Mary's then tied the game at 40 and Dunn took over to help the Mount earn the victory.

Gauthier moved into 27th place on the program's all-time career points list with 871 points.

The Mount returns to action on Dec. 21 at Virginia. Game time is 1 p.m.