ONEONTA, N.Y. – The Union College women's basketball team got the 2018-19 season underway on Friday night, falling to host Hartwick College by the score of 60-49 in a non-conference matchup at Lambros Arena.
 
Senior Sophie Borg had a solid game in her first outing in more than 10 months, scoring a team-high 14 points and adding a game-best nine rebounds. Freshman Amber Raisner scored 11 points and classmate Darby Leid added nine in their collegiate debuts as well for Union (0-1).
 
The two big differences in the game came from the free throw line and from beyond the arc. Hartwick shot 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from three-point range while Union managed only a 3-of-21 (14.3 percent) effort, while the Hawks' 15-4 edge from the charity stripe ended up providing the final margin of victory.
 
Union netted the first four points of the game on back-to-back layups from Borg and Leid, and opened up an 8-3 lead with 5:37 left in the opening quarter on a Borg put-back. However, the visitors went nearly five minutes without finding another bucket, allowing Hartwick to take an 11-10 lead at the quarter-mark.
 
Union struggled to score to start the second quarter as well, with Hartwick grabbing the first seven points to take an 18-10 lead with 4:38 gone by. But the visitors stormed back, as a Raisner three and back-to-back Borg buckets were followed by a layup from senior Nicole Conley that put Union back on top 19-18 with 1:51 remaining. However, it was then the Hawks' turn for one more run, ending on a 7-2 stretch to lead 26-21 at the half.
 
Hartwick led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, but three straight buckets got the Dutchwomen back in the contest. Junior Joana Santos started the run with a jumper with 2:44 left, and sophomore IreLee Ferguson capped the stint with a three that got Union within seven at 42-35 before the Hawks scored the final four points of the period.
 
Union held the home team off the scoreboard for the first 3:59 of the final quarter, but the team could only manage a pair of free throws from junior Elly Vaughan during that stretch. The Dutchwomen lowered the deficit to seven with 5:19 remaining on a Raisner fast-break layup, but the visitors could get no closer the rest of the way.
 
Union will take the next two weeks off from competition before returning to action on Saturday, November 24 in the team's 2018-19 home opener against St. John Fisher College tipping off at 6 p.m. at Viniar Athletic Center.