FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Sacred Heart defeated Mount St. Mary's 65-52 in Northeast Conference (NEC) women's basketball action on Monday.

Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) paced the Mount (3-4, 0-2 NEC) with 17 points and Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) added a career-high 11 points.

Kaitlin Sowinski led the Pioneers (3-5, 2-0 NEC) with 18 points. Callan Taylor registered 14 points and 10 rebounds off the bench while Stephanie Ryan added 11 points and Alisa Apo chipped in 10 points in the winning effort.

Sacred Heart took control from the opening tip and never looked back to down the Mountaineers for the 10th time at the Pitt Center and give head coach Ed Swanson his 300th career win. Swanson also won his 122th NEC game, two behind Mount St. Mary's legendary head coach Bill Sheahan for the top spot in league wins.

Sacred Heart opened the contest scoring 24 of the first 35 points of the game. Ryan started the surge with a 3-pointer 33 seconds into the game before Sowinski scored in the paint at 19:02. After Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary School) got the Mount on the scoreboard with a basket at 18:41, Maggie Cosgrove nailed a 3-pointer for an 8-2 advantage at the 17:29 mark.

Gauthier and Andresson each trickled the twine sandwiched in between a Sowinski layup to cut the margin to 10-6. The Pioneers then rolled off six unanswered points thanks to baskets from Taylor, Khalia Kain and Sowinski to increase the lead to 16-10 midway through the first half. Andresson halted the run with a jumper at 9:37, but Taylor drilled a 3-ball at 9:21.

Kristin Scheitrum (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) then nailed a triple of her own at 9:03 to trim the margin to 19-11, but Sacred Heart rolled off five-straight points to grab a 24-11 advantage with 7:21 on the clock. Sowinski and Taylor each hit the frontend of two free throws before Apo converted a traditional 3-point play at 7:21. The Pioneers went into the locker room with a 32-21 lead.

The Mountaineers opened the final stanza on a 13-6 run to trim the margin to 38-34 with 16:03 remaining. The run was fueled by two 3-pointers by Gauthier and five points from Andresson. The two teams traded buckets, but with Sacred Heart holding a 42-38 edge, Sowinski hit the first of two charity tosses and Taylor and Sowinski each scored in the paint and Taylor nailed a 3-ball with 9:42 remaining to hand the Pioneers a 50-38 lead.

Mount St. Mary's scored five-consecutive points thanks to a 3-pointer by Gauthier and two free throws by Westbrooks to trim the deficit to 50-43 with 8:46 left. Sowinski, Ryan and Apo then scored six unanswered points to restore a double-digit lead at 56-43 with 6:20 on the clock and the Mountaineers could not get any closer the rest of the way.

Katelyn Nowacki (Toledo, Ohio/Central Catholic) notched her first collegiate basket with 6:41 left in the first half. Westbrooks finished with nine points and seven rebounds.

Gauthier moved up four spots on the program's all-time career points list, jumping into 29th with 839 points.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Wednesday at home against Fairfield. Game time is 7 p.m.