FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Top-seed Sacred Heart defeated Mount St. Mary's 73-59 in the Northeast Conference (NEC) Women's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinal on Saturday. The Mount finished the season 14-16, its best mark since the 2000-01 team posted a 15-14 record.

Brianna Gauthier (Severna Park, Md./St. Mary's) paced the Mountaineers with 18 points. Leah Westbrooks (Dublin, Ireland/Holy Faith Secondary School) registered her sixth double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds while Hassanah Oliver (Hillside, N.J./Hillside) chipped in 10 points in the loss.

"I am proud of this team and proud to their head coach," said head coach Bryan Whitten. "We played hard and competed for 40 minutes against Sacred Heart."

Kaitlin Sowinski fueled the Pioneers (23-7) with a career-high 33 points along with 10 rebounds and three blocks. Callan Taylor added 13 points and 16 rebounds, and Alissa Apo, the NEC Player of the Year, recorded 15 points in the winning effort.

Sacred Heart took the lead and never looked back, using the strong inside presence of Sowinski to advance to the NEC Semifinals on Sunday.

The Pioneers jumped out to the lead from the opening tip. The All-NEC first-team duo of Sowinski and Apo scored the first six points of the contest to give Sacred Heart a 6-0 advantage with 17:11 left in the first half.

The Mount cut the margin to 6-4 after baskets by Westbrooks and Oliver but Stephanie Ryan and Maggie Cosgrove both nailed 3-pointers to give the Pioneers a 12-4 lead with 15:33 on the clock. Gauthier answered with back-to-back treys to cut the margin to two points with 14:25 left.

With the Pioneers holding a 16-14 margin, Sacred Heart scored nine of the next 11 points to open up a 25-16 advantage. Cosgrove started the surge with a 3-pointer at 12:45 before Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) hit a jumper at 12:32 to trim the margin to three points. Sowinski then scored the next six points to give the Pioneers a nine-point lead with 9:31 left.

Gauthier and Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) combined to score six of the next eight points to cut the deficit to 27-22 at the 5:03 mark, but Apo and Taylor both dialed up long distance to give Sacred Heart its first double-digit advantage at 33-22 at 2:50. Oliver and Apo both traded points to go into the locker room with the Pioneers holding a 35-24 margin.

Fueled by 13 points by Sowinski, Sacred Heart started the second half on a 16-10 run to open up a 51-34 advantage with 14:16 remaining.

The Mountaineers then made a run to cut the margin to single digits thanks to an 8-0 run. Oliver started the run with consecutive baskets before Courtney Nyce (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) scored in the paint at 12:18 to trim the margin to 11 points. Gauthier capped the surge with two free throws at 12:05 to make the score 51-42. Sowinski halted the run with a traditional 3-point play at 11:43 and the Pioneers went on for a 73-59 decision.

Gauthier ends her career with 1,128 points to move into 18th place on the program's all-time list. The senior also finished her career second all-time in 3-pointers made (164) and attempted (490) and ninth in assists with 335 helpers.

Mount St. Mary's lost its ninth-straight NEC Tournament game. The last Mount tournament win was a 50-45 decision against Sacred Heart on Mar. 4, 2001. The Mount is now 0-11 against the Pioneers at the Pitt Center. Mount St. Mary's and the Pioneers met in the league postseason for the third time in the last five years.