SCHENECTADY, NY – The Union College women's basketball team fell to Clarkson today after a hard-fought game that came down to a three-pointer in the final seconds of the fourth quarter.

With the loss, Union now moves to 4-12 in Liberty league play with a 7-15 overall record on the season.
 
Union found themselves in a three-nothing deficit after the first minute of play, but sophomore guard Joana Santos quickly cut the deficit to a point, by faking a three-point attempt, and then splitting two Clarkson defenders to bank in a layup at the eight minute mark in the first quarter.
 
Clarkson pulled away later in the first quarter. However, Lily Abarbanel nailed a three-pointer, just as the shot clock expired, to cut the Union deficit to two and set the score at 10-12 with three minutes left to go. Union ended the first quarter down by the same amount, facing a 12-14 deficit to start the second quarter.
 
Later, some missed opportunities and Clarkson offensive rebounds resulted in Union finding themselves facing a 12-17 deficit halfway through the second quarter. Jenni Barra scored Union's first points of the second quarter when she drained a high-arching three that brought the deficit down to six, as the score stood at 15-21 in favor of Clarkson with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.
 
Shortly before halftime, with less than nine seconds left in the half, sophomore Elly Vaughan made two free throws which brought the score to 19-24 going into the break.
 
Barra led Union in first half points with six, steals with two, and three point percentage (50-percent). As a team, the Dutchwomen out-rebounded Clarkson 18-15, but also lost the turnover battle 12-7 in the first half.
 
After just a minute of play in the first half, Nicole Conley hit a three from deep behind the arc to get the score to 22-24. Barra later tied the game at 27 after driving into the lane to hit a layup, despite contact, and sank the following foul shot. Clarkson built on their lead as the third quarter went on however, as Union found themselves down 29-35 to start the final quarter of the contest.
 
During the fourth quarter, Clarkson went on a 7-0 run which resulted in a 29-42 deficit for Union with five minutes left in the game. Barra stopped the run only a minute later by hitting a three-pointer from the corner. Union hit threes on their following two possessions courtesy of Barra and Santos, as the Dutch found themselves now trailing 42-37 with less than four minutes to go.
 
With less than three minutes remaining, it was Barra again with a clutch three that sliced the Clarkson lead to five. With less than a minute remaining, Santos fought off Clarkson defenders for two clutch rebounds, the second of which resulted in foul shots that brought Union within three points of Clarkson at the 26-second mark in the fourth quarter. In the waning seconds of the game, Union got off a three point attempt, but could not get the shot to fall as time ran out on the valiant comeback attempt by the Dutchwomen.

Union honored its four graduating seniors prior to today's match up and travels to RIT next week for a 6 p.m. (ET) tip off in Rochester, NY.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Barra led Union in points (18), average points per minute (.474), steals (2), threes (5), and she also snagged five boards.
• Santos led Union in efficiency (15.0), rebounds (10), field goal percentage with 50-percent, and was second to only Barra in points with eight.