Senior center Carol Dye scored 18 points and added 13 rebounds and five blocked shots to lead the University of Mary Washington women's basketball team to a 56-41 win over Bridgewater College on Monday night at the Anderson Center. UMW improves to 16-6 on the year.

Mary Washington opened the game on a 16-5 run, as all five starters scored in the opening three minutes of the contest. Dye scored eight points in the opening six minutes for the Eagles. A three pointer from Brieneke Matthes opened the lead to 16 at 25-9 with 12:07 remaining in the first half, but Bridgewater used a run to cut the deficit to seven at 25-18 with 9:26 left.

After UMW upped the margin to 11 with 7:33 remaining, Bridgewater scored four straight to cut the deficit to 29-23. UMW closed the first half scoring with a pair of Claire Haeuptle free throws to lead, 31-23, at intermission.

The hosts scored six straight to open the second half, including a pair of layups from Aubrey Howland, but again the guests hung around, cutting the deficit to nine at 37-28 with 15:14 to go. Bridgewater continued to chip away until the deficit was just 42-39 with 8:21 to play. But from there, UMW used a 12-1 run keyed by four points each from Dye and Caitlin Ciniero to lead, 54-40, with 1:42 remaining in the game. A pair of Emily Piazza free throws in the closing seconds provided the final margin of victory at 56-41.

Mary Washington shot 40% from the floor for the game (21-52), while Bridgewater was limited to 26.8% (15-56). Both teams made two three pointers, and UMW held a 12-9 edge in free throws. UMW led in rebounding, 41-34. In addition to Dye's stellar night, junior guard Sam Partonen had nine assists and three steals and Haeuptle had seven points. Bridgewater was led by Jessica Mullen's 12 points.

Mary Washington will return to action on Wednesday when they visit Wesley College in Capital Athletic Conference action at 6:00 p.m.