NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Central Connecticut State defeated Mount St. Mary's 66-41 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) women's basketball opener for both teams on Saturday.

Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) paced the Mount (3-3, 0-1 NEC) with 16 points and nine rebounds while Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) added 10 points in the loss.

Shontice Simmons led the Blue Devils (4-4, 1-0 NEC) with 18 points, five rebounds and five steals, and Kerrianne Dugan registered 17 points in the winning effort.

Central Connecticut State took control of the game midway through the first half and never looked back to end a five-game losing skid against the Mountaineers.

After Dunn tied the game at 10 on a 3-pointer, the Blue Devils rolled off eight-straight points to grab an 18-10 advantage. Simmons started the run on back-to-back 3-pointers at 13:42 and 13:13 before Dugan scored in the paint at 22 seconds later to hand Central Connecticut State the eight-point margin.

The Mountaineers answered by scoring the next five points to trim the deficit to 18-15 with 10:08 left in the half. Dunn scored a pair of buckets sandwiched in between Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary School) converting the backend of two charity tosses.

Simmons halted the spurt on a layup at 6:53 to start a 5-0 run for the Blue Devils to reclaim an eight-point lead. Dunn stopped the Central Connecticut State surge with a jumper, but Gabrielle Oglesby nailed a 3-pointer with 3:01 on the clock. Westbrooks ended the scoring in the half by converting the frontend of two free throws at 1:55 to cut the margin to 26-18 going into the locker room.

Sparked by four 3-pointers, the Blue Devils opened the final frame on a 25-9 run to grab a 51-27 advantage with 10 minutes remaining in the contest. Dugan paced Central Connecticut State in the offensive burst with seven points while Simmons and Crockett each nailed two 3-pointers in that stretch.

The Mount then rolled off 10 unanswered points thanks to five points apiece by Gauthier and Kristin Scheitrum (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) to cut the margin to 51-38, but Dugan ended the run with a basket in the paint at 7:17 and the Blue Devils went on for its first win against the Mount since Mar. 1, 2005.

Gauthier moved into 33rd place on the program's all-time career points list with 822. Scheitrum had a career-high five points in her first action of the season. The 41 points were the fewest scored in a conference contest since Long Island held the Mount to 41 points on Jan. 8, 2007.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Monday at Sacred Heart. Game time is 7 p.m.