WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – Monmouth defeated Mount St. Mary's 59-52 in Northeast Conference (NEC) women's basketball action on Monday.

Sydney Henderson (Mechanicsville, Va./Atlee) paced the Mount (6-9, 2-2 NEC) with 18 points. The junior connected on six shots from behind the arc, the eighth-most in program history for a single game. Sandra Andresson (Tallinn, Estonia/Audentes School) added 11 points in the loss.

Abby Martin fueled the Hawks (7-8, 2-2 NEC) with 22 points and 14 rebounds. Alyssa Womack added 17 points and Betsy Gadziala narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 10 rebounds in the winning effort.

Monmouth took the lead midway through the first half and staved off a couple of Mount St. Mary's comeback attempts to earn the victory.

Monmouth used an 11-2 run to take the lead midway through the first half to take the lead it would not relinquish.

After Ashley Christie (Miamisburg, Ohio/Archbishop Alter) nailed her second trey of the night at 12:52 to hand the Mountaineers a 9-8 edge, the Hawks scored 11 of the next 13 points to grab a 19-11 advantage. Womack started the run with a jumper at 9:45 before Martin nailed a jumper at 9:08. Gabby Singer scored in the paint at 8:42 and then Womack capped an 8-0 run with a basket in the paint at 8:20 for a 16-9 lead.

Kayla Grossett (Toronto, Canada/David and Mary Thompson C.I.) momentarily halted the run with a layup at 7:03, but Martin drilled a jumper at 4:52 and Womack hit the backend of two free throws at 4:19 for a 19-11 advantage.

The Mountaineers answered by scoring eight of the next 10 points to trim the margin to 21-19 with 1:43 left in the half. Andresson fueled the run with five points, but Monmouth went into the locker room with a 26-21 margin.

In the second half, Mount St. Mary's trimmed the deficit to 33-31 after starting the stanza by scoring 10 of the first 17 points. Henderson hit two 3-pointers in the spurt, including a trey to make it a two-point game with 16:14 left in the game.

The Hawks then scored 10 of the next 14 points to take a 43-33 lead with 12:32 remaining thanks to six points from Womack. The Mountaineers could get no closer than five points the rest of the night.

Former Mount women's basketball player Janet Ust served as guest assistant coach for the game.

Mount St. Mary's returns to action on Saturday at home against Bryant. Game time is 3:30 p.m.