CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Fifteenth-ranked Virginia defeated Mount St. Mary's 65-55 in non-conference women's basketball action on Sunday.

Hassanah Oliver (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) paced the Mount (5-5) with 14 points and six rebounds while Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) registered 11 points and nine rebounds, and Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary) added nine points in the loss.

Monica Wright fueled the Cavaliers (9-2) with 27 points and Lyndra Littles tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in the winning effort.

Virginia took the lead with five minutes remaining in the first half, but the story of the stanza was how the Mountaineers played with the 15th-ranked Cavaliers.

Oliver helped Mount St. Mary's grab a 5-0 advantage on a layup 13 seconds into the contest and then nailed her first 3-pointer of the year at 18:10.

Wright then fueled an 8-2 run with six points to help Virginia take an 8-7 advantage with 13:56 on the clock.

Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) then nailed a trey at 12:39 to reclaim the lead for the Mount at 10-8. After Littles hit 1 of 2 at the line, Lauren Howell (Quinton, N.J./Sacred Heart) drilled a 3-pointer at 10:22 for a four-point lead.

Littles then scored in the lane at 9:06 and Wright converted the backend of two charity tosses at 8:43 to trim the margin to 13-12.

Gauthier and Oliver then scored consecutive baskets to hand the Mountaineers a 17-12 margin at the 7:43 mark.

It was then that two ‘Hoos in ‘Hoosville, Wright and Enonge Stovall, started scoring for the Cavaliers to fuel a 15-6 run to grab a 27-23 lead going into the locker room.

Wright, who had 18 points in the first half, started the run with consecutive baskets before Stovall scored in the lane at 5:22 and 4:59 to hand Virginia the lead it would not relinquish. Wright then capped a 10-0 run with a jumper at 3:58 for a 22-17 lead.

Westbrooks then hit a jumper at 3:27 before Wright converted a traditional 3-point play at 3:19. Mount St. Mary's then scored two-straight baskets to cut the margin to 25-23 with five ticks on the clock after buckets from Dunn and Courtney Nyce (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley), but Wright hit a jumper at the buzzer to hand Virginia a 27-23 lead at the break.

Fueled by eight points from Littles, Virginia opened the second half on a 17-6 run to grab a 44-29 lead with 12:32 remaining.

With the Cavaliers holding a 50-34 advantage, went on a 12-2 surge to cut the margin to 52-46 with 5:52 remaining and forced a Virginia timeout. Kristin Scheitrum (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) started the run by making two free throws at 7:58 before Oliver and Westbrooks each scored in the paint to cut the deficit to 50-40 with 6:55 on the clock.

After Chelsea Shine hit two free throws at 6:40, Oliver and Howell drained consecutive baskets from behind the paint to trim the margin to six points with 5:52 remaining. Whitney Edwards stopped the Mountaineers run with a 3-pointer at 5:30 and two free throws to hand Virginia a 57-46 lead and the Mount could get no closer the rest of the way.

The Mountaineers were playing their first ranked opponent since facing Maryland at the Comcast Center on Dec. 4, 2005.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action at Canisius on Dec. 30. Game time is 2 p.m.