MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - The Union College women's basketball team got off to a slow start and never could recover as Middlebury College cruised to a 49-28 victory on Sunday afternoon at Pepin Gymnasium.

Senior Olivia Pachla was the top scorer for Union (3-5) with seven points, as Union struggled to find the basket to the tune of 21.7 percent (10 of 46) shooting. Pachla matched classmate Megan Lee and first-year Jelena Perovic for the team lead with six rebounds as well.

Alexa Mustafaj had a big game for Middlebury (6-3) with 22 points, followed by Reagan McDonald with nine points.

Middlebury wasted little time putting Sunday's game out of reach, outscoring Union by a 21-6 margin and hitting 8-of-12 shots from the field in the opening frame. The home team then doubled the visitors up 14-7 in the second stanza to take a commanding 35-13 lead into the locker rooms.

Union buckled down defensively in the second half, limiting the Panthers to 6-of-24 shooting (25.0 percent) and outscoring the home team by a point, but the team did not have enough offensive success to get back into the contest.

After taking some time off for the holiday break, Union will close out 2022 on Friday, December 30 with a 1 p.m. tip against SUNY New Paltz at Viniar Athletic Center.