BROOKLYN, N.Y. -Long Island held on after a furious Mount St. Mary's comeback attempt for a 63-60 win in Northeast Conference (NEC) women's basketball action on Monday.

Jessie Kaufman (Damascus, Md./Damascus) paced the Mount (4-13, 1-5 NEC) with 14 points while Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) (13 points), Kayla Grossett (Toronto, Ontario/David and Mary Thompson C.I.) (11 points) and Selina Mann (Gainesville, Va./Battlefield) (10 points) also reached double figures in the loss.

Ashley Palmer fueled the Blackbirds (11-6, 3-3 NEC) with 20 points while Chelsi Johnson added 18 points and 11 rebounds in the winning effort.

Long Island took the lead right before halftime and then started the second with a big run and held on after Mount St. Mary's tried to rally from a 20-point deficit for its third-straight win against the Mountaineers.

She'tiarra Pledger gave the Blackbirds the lead for good on a layup with 21.5 seconds left in the first half. Sparked by 12 points from Palmer, the Blackbirds started the second half on a 23-2 run to take a 52-30 advantage with 9:44 left.

The Mount then stormed back with a 22-3 run to trim the margin to 55-52 with 2:31 left in the game. Kaufman powered the run with eight points.

After Kaufman made it a three-point game on a 3-pointer at 2:31, Palmer and Dunn traded four points each on the next four possessions to maintain the three-point difference with 1:25 left. After a Long Island shot clock violation, Kaufman tossed up a 3-point attempt from the top of the key that rimmed out with 26.5 seconds left with a chance to tie the contest.

Kiara Evans then made both of her free throws at 23.4 second left and Ashley Christie (Miamisburg, Ohio/Archbishop Alter) scored in the lane with 6.6 seconds left to cut the deficit to 61-58. Heidi Mothershead then converted her two free throws with 6.2 remaining and Mann scored on a layup with .6 ticks on the clock. The sophomore then stole the inbounds pass, but could not get a shot off.

Mount St. Mary's jumped out to a seven and eight-point leads in the first half, but both times Long Island rallied back.

The Blackbirds scored 12 of the final 18 points to go into the locker room with a 29-28 edge. Trailing 22-17 after Mann hit the second of two free throws at 5:26, Johnson nailed a 3-pointer at 5:11 before Palmer tied the game at 22 on two charity tosses at 3:27.

Kaufman momentarily gave the Mount a 25-22 lead on a trey at 3:17, but Johnson answered right back with a triple of her own at 2:12. Johnson, who had 16 points in the first half, then gave the Blackbirds their first lead of the afternoon with two free throws at 27-25 with 1:30 left in the half. Kaufman regained the lead for the Mountaineers on her second 3-pointer of the game at 1:17, but Pledger scored in the lane with 21.5 seconds left in the first half to give Long Island a 29-28 advantage going into the locker room.

Fueled by seven points from Dunn, Mount St. Mary's jumped out to a 9-2 lead at the 15:39 mark. The Blackbirds rallied to trim the score to 14-13 before Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) hit a jumper and Grossett nailed a 3-ball and scored in the lane to give the Mountaineers a 21-13 margin at 7:18. Long Island then outscored Mount St. Mary's 16-7 in the rest of the half to take the lead at the break.

Mount St. Mary's made one more field goal than Long Island and had nine 3-pointers compared to the Blackbirds' three treys. The difference came at the line where Long Island made 12 of 14 from the free throw line and the Mountaineers were 5 of 9 from the charity stripe.

Mount St. Mary's, who will play seven of its next 10 games at Knott Arena, returns to action on Saturday at home against Quinnipiac. Game time is 3 p.m.