CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - The Mount St. Mary's women's basketball team opened up the 2010-11 campaign with an 81-58 loss at Virginia in non-conference action on Sunday.

Sydney Henderson (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) paced the Mount (0-1) with a career-high 17 points. Freshman Ashley Christie (Miamisburg, Ohio/Archbishop Alter) added 13 points in her collegiate debut.

Chelsea Shine led the Cavaliers (2-0) with 17 points and 15 rebounds. Ariana Moorer and Kelsey Wolfe added 12 points apiece while Whitny Edwards and Telia McCall each had 10 points in the winning effort.

Virginia took control of the game midway through the first half and never looked back to go on for the victory in the Mountaineers' season opener. The Mount is now 2-2 under head coach Bryan Whitten in season openers.

Mount St. Mary's battled Virginia for the first seven minutes and grabbed the lead four times before the Cavaliers closed the half on a 28-6 run to go into the locker room with a 37-17 advantage.

After Henderson made a layup at 13:36 left in the first half to hand the Mount its last lead at 11-9, Virginia scored the next 16 points and also went on a 25-3 run in between Mountaineer field goals.

Wolfe started the string of 16-straight points with a layup at 13:17 to tie the game at 11 before Moorer handed Virginia the lead for good with a jumper at 12:22. Wolfe then nailed a 3-pointer at 11:42 before McCall scored in the paint 36 seconds later for an 18-11 lead. After Paulisha Kellum hit the front end of two free throws at 10:45, Edwards nailed a trey at 8:45 and Shine hit a jumper at 7:47 to cap the run and give the Cavaliers a 24-11 lead.

Tara Lonergan (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) halted the Virginia run with a free throw at 6:33, but the Cavaliers scored 10 of the next 12 points to grab a 34-14 lead. Jessie Kaufman (Damascus, Md./Damascis) then drilled a 3-ball with 22 ticks on the clock for Mount St. Mary's first basket since the 13:36 mark. Wolfe answered with a 3-pointer of her own as time expired to give Virginia a 37-17 lead at halftime.

The Mount hung with the Charlottesville program for the second half with the Cavaliers taking the final frame, 44-41. Mount St. Mary's cut the margin to 17 seven times, but could get no closer.

In the first seven minutes of the game, the Mount three freshmen and Henderson helped the Mountaineers jump out to the lead four times. After Shine gave Virginia a 2-0 lead at 19:37, Kaufman nailed her first collegiate shot, a 3-pointer, to hand Mount St. Mary's a 3-2 edge at 19:22.

Simone Egwu scored in the paint at 19:02 to reclaim the lead for Virginia before Christie took a page out of Kaufman's book and drilled a 3-pointer on her first career shot to give the Mountaineers a 6-4 advantage at the 18:26 mark.

Shine then converted 3 of 4 from the foul line to give the Cavaliers a 7-6 margin at 17:23. Rachel Matthews (Midlothian, Va./Midlothian) was the next freshmen to step up for the Mountaineers. The freshman scored in the paint on her first collegiate attempt and then converted the free throw to complete the traditional 3-point play at 15:55 to hand Mount St. Mary's a 9-7 lead. Kellum tied the game at 9 at 15:35 before Henderson scored in the paint to give the Mount its final lead of the afternoon at 11-9 with 13:36 left in the first stanza. Virginia then scored the next 16 points and never looked back for its seventh-straight win against Mount St. Mary's.

Freshman Kayla Grossett (Toronto, Ontario/David And Mary Thompson C.I.) became the fourth newcomer to knock down her first collegiate shot after nailing a 3-pointer with 5:15 left in the first half. Grossett finished with six points while Kaufman posted eight points and Mathews had three points in their first collegiate contest. Fellow freshman Kelly Guerriero (Floral Park, N.Y./Archbishop Malloy) made her debut with 1:52 left in the game and missed her only shot attempt.

Senior Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) moved into 30 place on the program's all-time career point list with 845 points. Dunn had seven points, five rebounds and three assists on the day.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Wednesday when the squad makes its Knott Arena debut against American. Game time is 7 p.m.