TROY, N.Y. – The Union College women's basketball team dropped a 66-52 contest to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Liberty League action on Saturday afternoon at ECAV Arena.
 
Junior Kennedy Clark led Union (3-8, 1-4 Liberty League) in scoring for the second straight day, netting 11 points to go with five rebounds and two assists. Senior Megan Lee added eight points and four boards off the bench, while sophomore Claudia Porto chipped in five points and a team-leading six caroms.
 
RPI (6-6, 3-2 Liberty League) was led by Ashlyn O'Neil with a game-high 12 points and Heather Converse with 10 points and a game-best eight rebounds.
 
Union again got off to a good start against the Engineers, holding the home team without a field goal for the first 4:30 and jumping out to a 10-3 lead. Lee and classmate Kendall Degenhardt had four points each during the early run, with Lee adding two more to bump the lead back up to 12-5 with 3:37 left. After RPI came back to tie the game, sophomore Grace Enselek hit a free throw and Clark sunk a three to give Union a 17-13 lead after one period.
 
Rensselaer had the better start in the second stanza, scoring 11 of the first 13 points to take back the lead at 24-19. After a Clark three put an immediate stop to the run, the home team still outscored Union 7-2 the rest of the way to take a 31-24 lead into halftime.
 
Clark led all players with eight points in the opening 20 minutes, followed by Lee with six points in 10 minutes off the bench. The visitors shot just 25.0 percent (8 of 32) in the first half, but limited RPI to 33.3 percent shooting (9 of 27) and forced nine turnovers.
 
The Engineers continued their momentum with the first nine points of the third quarter to build up a 16-point lead. RPI's lead grew to as many as 17 in the quarter before Union showed some life offensively, scoring seven straight points as part of a 12-3 run that lowered the deficit to seven at 47-40 with 51 seconds left. However, the fourth period followed a similar script, with the home team scoring the first eight points and cruising the rest of the way.
 
Union finished the game shooting 29.1 percent (16 of 55) from the field, while Rensselaer heated up considerably in the second half, hitting 12-of-23 shots in the final 20 minutes to finish the game at 42.0 percent (21 of 50).
 
After starting the season with just two home games in their first 11 contests, Union will look to find more success with the next seven games all coming at Viniar Athletic Center. The long homestand begins on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. against Vassar College.