UTICA, N.Y. – Senior Joana Santos provided a first-half spark and finished as one of three Dutchwomen in double figures as the Union College women's basketball team finished off non-conference play with an impressive 72-62 win over Utica College on Friday afternoon at the Harold T. Clark Athletic Center.
 
Freshman Megan Lee had an excellent game to lead Union (4-4), scoring 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting and adding seven rebounds as part of a great day on the glass for the Dutchwomen. Santos had a big first half to keep Union in the game and finished with 14 points, while classmate Elly Vaughan added 15 points and sophomore Laura Vinton grabbed a team-best eight boards.
 
As a team, Union outrebounded Utica by a 41-29 margin, including 17 offensive boards. After a slow start offensively, Union asserted itself by dominating the offensive glass in the opening 20 minutes of play, posting a 20-9 edge in rebounding and posting a 10-0 edge in second-chance points.
 
Utica (7-4) jumped out to an early 10-2 lead behind six points from Sydney Przygoda, but the Dutchwomen finally started to find their shooting touch after missing nine of their first 10 shots. A pair of threes from Santos capped an 11-2 run that gave Union a 15-14 lead after one quarter.
 
Union then came back and dominated the second stanza, putting up 31 points and outscoring the Pioneers by 18 to take a 46-27 lead into the half. After shooting 6-of-23 in the first quarter, Union connected on an amazing 13 of 16 shots in the second to build up its lead. The Dutchwoman defense also tightened up as well, forcing 14 turnovers in the half and converting them into 16 points at the other end.
 
After heating up at the end of the first, Santos continued to shoot well in the second quarter, leading all players with 14 points at intermission. Lee also came on strong to finish with 13 points over the opening 20 minutes.
 
The Union lead grew to as many as 21 early in the second half following a pair of Vaughan buckets that made the score 52-31 with 6:39 to go in the third. Utica chipped away at the lead to get within 10 at 60-50 early in the fourth, but the visitors responded with eight straight points – starting with a three from sophomore Anna Metcalf and closing with a layup by classmate Darby Leid – to reassert their advantage and cruise to the win.
 
The visitors shot 24-of-45 over the final three quarters to finish the game at 44.1 percent (30 of 68) for the afternoon, including a 7-of-18 mark (38.9 percent) from beyond the arc.
 
It will be all Liberty League games the rest of the way for Union, beginning on Friday with a short trip to Troy to take on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute beginning at 5:30 p.m.