TEANECK, N.J. – Fairleigh Dickinson scored five-straight points in overtime and held on to defeat Mount St. Mary's 73-69 in Northeast Conference (NEC) women's basketball action on Saturday.

Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) paced the Mount (9-13, 4-8 NEC) with a career-high 23 points. Gauthier, who became the 24th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point plateau, reached the milestone on a pair of free throws at 15:02 in the first half.

Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) tied a career best in points (18) and rebounds (15) while Hassanah Oliver (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) added 14 points in the loss.

In overtime after Oliver hit two at the free throw line at 4:36, the Knights (7-15, 6-6 NEC) scored five-straight points to take the lead it would not relinquish. Alyssa Mayrose started the run with a free throw at 4:23 before Shenika Chang hit a jumper at 4:05 and Christy Altamirano scored in the lane at 3:15 for a 69-65 margin.

Dunn hit one at the charity stripe at 2:24 before Mayrose nailed two at the line at 1:58. Gauthier drilled a 3-point with 48.6 seconds remaining to trim the margin to 70-69. Jordan Sykes converted the backend of two free throws at 33.2 before Leah Westbrooks' (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary) basket in the paint was negated with 5.7 seconds because she was called for an offensive foul. Mayrose then sealed the Fairleigh Dickinson win with two charity tosses with five ticks remaining.

Mayrose, the current co-NEC Player of the Week, fueled the Knights with a career-high 30 points and 13 rebounds. Altamirano added 18 points and 10 rebounds and Mariyah Laury chipped in 13 points in the winning effort.

Fairleigh Dickinson rallied several times in the contest, including four points in the final 17.5 seconds in regulation to send the game into the extra session and then grabbed the advantage and held on to split the season series with the Mountaineers.

Mount St. Mary's jumped out to a 19-8 advantage in the first 10:12 of the contest thanks to eight points from Gauthier and six points from Dunn.

Fairleigh Dickinson responded to end the half on a 23-9 run to go into the locker room with a 31-28 advantage. The Knights, who only scored nine points during the first half in the Jan. 12 meeting in Emmitsburg, were powered by Altamirano, Laury and Mayrose. Laury posted six points, Mayrose added eight points and Altamirano registered seven points in the final nine minutes and 30 seconds of the stanza. After Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) tied the contest at 28 at 1:37, Altamirano hit the back end of two free throws at 40.9 seconds for a one-point edge before Mayrose scored in the paint in the closing seconds to hand Fairleigh Dickinson a 31-28 lead going into the break.

Mount St. Mary's started the second half on a 10-0 run over the first seven minutes of the final stanza to grab a 38-31 advantage. Gauthier powered the surge with five points. The squad increased the margin to 44-32 after two points from Lauren Howell (Quinton, N.J./Sacred Heart) and four points from Dunn.

The Knights responded with a 14-2 run to tie the game at 46 with 7:09 remaining. The two teams then traded baskets for the next three minutes before the Mount took a 56-53 margin with 3:18 on the clock. Fairleigh Dickinson came back to knot the score at 59 on two free throw by Mayrose with 44.7 seconds remaining. Despite Westbrooks and Oliver hitting four free throws to give Mount St. Mary's a four-point lead with 17.9 seconds remaining, the Knights tied the game with 0.2 remaining on an Altamirano layup to send the game to over time. Oliver missed a pair at the line with 7.2 seconds remaining that could have seal the win for Mount St. Mary's.

It marked the first overtime game since the Mount fell in double overtime to Monmouth on Jan. 6, 2007. It also marked the third overtime game against Fairleigh Dickinson and the first time the Knights won an extra session game against the Mount.

Gauthier, who now sits in 23rd place on the program's all-time career scoring list with 1,016 points, becomes the fourth player in the last four years to reach the 1,000-point plateau. It marks the 10th time a player has scored her 1,000th point against an NEC opponent and the first time against Fairleigh Dickinson. The Mountaineers are now 17-7 in the contest a player scores her 1,000 points and 6-5 away from Emmitsburg. Gauthier is the second player under head coach Bryan Whitten to reach the milestone and the 13 as a coach (nine at King's College and two at Virginia Commonwealth).

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