FARMVILLE, Va. – Longwood rallied from a slow start and a 14-point deficit to defeat Mount St. Mary's 58-54 in non-conference women's basketball action on Thursday.

Hassanah Oliver (Hilliside, N.J./Hillside) paced the Mount (7-12) with 17 points. Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) added nine points and seven rebounds and Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) added nine points and six boards in the loss.

The Mountaineers came storming back from a 52-41 deficit to have a chance to tie or take the lead in the final minute of the contest. Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary School) trimmed the score to 56-54 on a layup with 1:13 on the clock. The Mount had a chance to score again trailing by two, but a turnover gave it back to the Lancers with 37 seconds left. Longwood gave it right back to the Mountaineers on a turnover and Oliver missed a chance in the lane with 19.1 remaining. With Mount St. Mary's using a full-court press, Anna Steg was open at midcourt and took the pass to the basket to seal the victory with 12.1 remaining.

Steg and Krystal Garrison sparked the Lancers (6-11) with 14 points apiece and Sierra Fletcher chipped in 11 points in the winning effort.

Despite starting the contest without a point for nearly nine minutes in the first half, Longwood rebounded to come from behind to earn its second-straight win against the Mount.

Mount St. Mary's started out the first half on a 14-0 run and held Longwood scoreless for the first eight minutes and 24 seconds while the Lancers missed their first 10 shots.

Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) got the scoring started with a layup at 18:10 before Oliver had two baskets sandwiched in between a Westbrooks layup for an 8-0 advantage 5:05 into the contest. Dunn and Gauthier then got into the scorebook on the scoring end with baskets at 15:18 and 14:20 before Westbrooks capped the 14-unanswered points with a layup at 13:10.

Steg ended Longwood's drought with a layup at 11:36 to help the Lancers connect on five of their next seven shots and to go on a 15-6 run to cut the deficit to 20-15 with 7:62 remaining in the stanza. Garrison sparked the surge with six points.

The Mount then answered to score seven of the next nine points to grab a 28-17 advantage. Oliver continued her hot first half with a traditional 3-point play at 6:35 before Dunn nailed the second of two free throws at 6:05 for a 24-15 edge. After Emma Zieverink scored in the lane at 5:40, Courtney Nyce (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) and Oliver answered with back-to-back buckets for the 11-point advantage.

Longwood then got hot from behind the arc after hitting three treys to trim the deficit to 30-26 with 1:07 left in the half thanks to two 3-pointers by Fletcher. Andresson answered with a triple of her own with 43 ticks on the clock to hand the Mountaineers a 33-26 advantage going into the locker room.

The second half started much like the first with a team making a big run, but this time it was Longwood opening the frame with 12 unanswered points and a 17-4 run to take its first lead of the night. Steg and Zieverink got the spurt started with seven-consecutive points before Fletcher nailed a 3-pointer and Steg scored in the paint at 15:37 for a 38-33 edge.

Dunn momentarily halted the run with a jumper at 15:10, but Garrison scored in the paint and drilled a 3-ball at 13:59 for a 43-35 advantage. The Mount then cut the margin to four points courtesy of back-to-back jumpers by Shanda Anderson (Egg Harbor, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) before the Lancers scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 52-41 lead.

Mount St. Mary's answered again with a 7-0 run. Gauthier hit a jumper, Oliver notched her first points of the second half on a layup and Gauthier nailed a 3-pointer at 4:08 to once again cut the margin to four points, 52-48. The two teams then traded baskets over the next four possessions to maintain the four-point difference. Westbrooks then scored on a put-back to bring the Mount within two points with 1:17 on the clock.

Gauthier now sits at 965 career points, 35 points shy of becoming the 24 player in program history to reach the 1,000 point mark. The senior also dished out two assists to move within four helpers of cracking the Top-10 in that category.

Mount St. Mary's returns to the hardwood against Wagner on Saturday at Knott Arena. Game time is 6 p.m. The game will be televised live on Fox College Sports and will also be run on tape delay on MASN on Sunday at 6 p.m.