SMITHFIELD, R.I. - Bryant defeated Mount St. Mary's 79-76 in overtime of a Northeast Conference (NEC) women's basketball game on Saturday.

Mary Dunn (Whippany, N.J./Morris Catholic) paced the Mount (4-16, 1-8 NEC) with 20 points. Ashley Christie (Miamisburg, Ohio/Archbishop Alter) added 18 points and Kelly Guerriero (Floral Park, N.Y./Archbishop Malloy) chipped in a career-high 13 points in the loss.

The Bulldogs (7-13, 4-5 NEC) had all five starters in double figures. Siamone Bennett paced Bryant with 24 points and 10 rebounds while Danielle Douglas (15 points), Katie Whittington (14 points), Meredith Soper (11 points) and Brittany Stahura (11 points) also registered double digits in the winning effort.

The Bulldogs rallied from an 11-point second half deficit and won the game in overtime for the squad's first win against Mount St. Mary's in three tries. It was the Mountaineers first-ever road game at Bryant.

Whittington started the scoring in overtime with a jumper at the 4:28 mark to give Bryant a 72-70 lead, but Kayla Grossett (Toronto, Ontario/David and Mary Thompson C.I.) answered with two free throws at 3:44 to knot the game at 72.

Douglas then gave the Bulldogs the lead for good on a jumper at 2:50 before Bennett extended the lead to 77-72 on a traditional 3-point play at 1:48.

The Mountaineers came back to score the next four points, thanks to jumpers by Tara Lonergan (Rockville Centre, N.Y./South Side) at 1:28 and Christie with 56 seconds left to cut the margin to one point.

After two missed baskets in the lane by the Bulldogs, Mount St. Mary's had a chance to take the lead with 26 seconds left but missed the layup. Whittington then made 1 of 2 at the free throw line with 14 seconds left to make increase the lead to 78-76, but the Mount missed a layup with four ticks remaining and Whittington sealed the win by hitting the backend of two free throws with one second remaining.

Mount St. Mary's held an 11-point advantage with 12:38 remaining thanks to starting the first seven minutes and 22 seconds of the second half on an 18-8 run. Christie and Dunn powered the surge with six points apiece.

Bryant then rallied from a 55-44 deficit with a 26-13 spurt to grab its first lead since early in the second half at 70-68 with 1:54 left. Stahura powered the run with eight points.

During the surge with the Mount clinging to a 68-64 lead after two free throws by Dunn at the 5:37 mark, Bryant scored the next six points to grab a 70-68 edge. Stahura started the run with a layup at 4:33 before Soper hit 1 of 2 at the charity stripe at 3:29 and Bennett gave the Bulldogs a 69-68 lead on a layup one minute later. Whittington increased the margin to 70-68 by hitting two free throws at 1:54, but Dunn tied the game at 70 on two at the line of her own with 40 ticks on the clock to send the game to overtime.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 13-9 advantage in the first half. Sparked by three treys by Guerriero, the Mountaineers rallied to take a 23-17 advantage with 10:34 left in the stanza thanks to a 14-4 surge. Bryant answered to take the lead back with 5:46 on the clock and held the advantage until Lonergan scored in the paint with 10 seconds left to give Mount St. Mary's a 37-36 lead going into the locker room. It was the first time this season the Mount lost a game that it led at halftime after the Bulldogs came storming back to win the game in the extra session.

Dunn recorded her third 20-point performance of the season and fifth of her career. The senior moved into 22nd place in program history with 1,066 career points and sixth in career rebounds with 775 caroms. Christie finished one point from her career high while Selina Mann (Gainesville, Va./Battlefield) dished out seven assists in the loss.

The Mountaineers return to action on Monday at Central Connecticut State. Game time is 7 p.m. The contest can be viewed at northeastconference.tv as part of the NEC's Women's Basketball Game Of The Week.