SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Despite a career-high 15 points from junior Kennedy Clark, the Union College women's basketball team was outscored by 14 points in a pivotal third quarter to suffer a 65-50 loss to Skidmore College in Liberty League action on Friday night at Williamson Sports Center.
 
Clark had a solid game leading the offense for Union (3-7, 1-3 Liberty League), hitting 3-of-4 shots from beyond the arc while adding a team-best five steals, four rebounds and three assists. Classmate Maura Conan also sunk three shots from long range on the way to a 11-point effort, and senior Kendall Degenhardt reached double figures as well with 10 points.
 
Julia Blanck had a huge game for Skidmore (7-3, 3-0 Liberty League), leading all players with 16 points and 18 rebounds to go with four blocks. Thanks in large part to Blanck, Skidmore held a dominating 50-28 edge on the glass and outscored Union 24-9 in the paint.
 
Union started the game strong, with Clark and Conan hitting the team's first three attempts from beyond the arc and the visitors building up a 13-6 lead after a Clark layup with 3:59 left. However, Skidmore scored the final six points of the frame to shrink the Union lead to one at 13-12 after 10 minutes.
 
Buckets by Degenhardt, senior Megan Lee and sophomore Claudia Porto built the lead back up to five at 19-14 early in the second stanza, and Union did not trail for the remainder of the period. A layup by sophomore Sophia Poplyk with 19 seconds left gave Union a 30-27 lead before a last-second three by Andi Levitz knotted the score headed into halftime.
 
The game was decided in the third quarter, which saw the Thoroughbreds outscore their counterparts by a 23-9 margin to take control of the contest. After senior Olivia Pachla put Union ahead on the period's first possession, Skidmore used an 11-2 run to take back the lead at 41-34 with 4:40 left. Another 12-3 run to close the frame extended the lead to 53-39 after 30 minutes.
 
The visitors made a bit of a run in the fourth quarter, outscoring Skidmore 10-2 to get within nine (58-49) with 3:02 on the clock, but Union did not make a field goal the rest of the way.
 
After hitting 13-of-33 shots (39.4 percent) of their shots in the first half, Union shot 29.6 percent (8 of 27) in the second half to finish the game at 35.0 percent. Skidmore shot 42.6 percent (23 of 54) from the field and also hit 13 free throws to pull away with the win.
 
Union will continue its weekend tour of the Capital Region tomorrow with a 2 p.m. tipoff at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.