GENEVA, N.Y. – Senior Megan Lee scored a game-high 16 points to lead three players in double figures as the Union College women's basketball team picked up a big 69-51 victory over William Smith College in a key Liberty League matchup on Friday night at Bristol Gym.
 
The win was an important one for Union (8-13, 6-9 Liberty League) in the race for the postseason, moving the team into sole possession of sixth place in the conference standings with three games to play. The team sits one game ahead of Clarkson University in seventh place and one game behind Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in fifth, with the top-six teams making it to the postseason.
 
Lee led all players with her 16 points, hitting 7-of-16 shots from the field to go with seven rebounds and an assist. Classmate Olivia Pachla rode a red-hot start to a 15-point, eight-rebound effort in just 22 minutes, and fellow senior Kendall Degenhardt also filled up the stat sheet with 10 points, four assists, three steals and three caroms.
 
Lauren Devaney led William Smith (6-16, 4-11 Liberty League) with 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, one of three Herons in double figures.
 
Pachla carried Union through the first period, scoring nine of the team's 15 points as the visitors took a 15-12 lead after 10 minutes. She scored Union's first six points as the team jumped out to an early 8-2 lead. A layup by sophomore Claudia Porto gave Union its largest lead of the frame at 11-5 with 5:46 left, and they went into the break with a three-point advantage after a Lee layup.
 
Union started the second stanza on an 8-2 run, with back-to-back buckets by Pachla putting Union up 23-15 with 6:37 left. After a William Smith three, Union closed on a 14-4 run, hitting 6-of-9 shots from the field to jump out to a 37-22 halftime lead. Five players had a point during the run, led by four points each from Degenhardt and junior Grace Enselek.
 
Pachla led all players with 13 points through the first two quarters, hitting 5-of-8 shots from the field and also grabbing five rebounds. As a team, Union shot 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) in the second stanza to finish the opening half at 43.2 percent (16 of 37), while limiting William Smith to 8-of-29 shooting (27.6 percent).
 
The visitors scored the first six points of the third to build up their largest lead of the game at 43-22 after a Degenhardt layup. An 11-2 run got the Herons back within 12 (45-33) with 1:47 left in the third period, but a pair of layups in the final minute by Lee bumped the lead back up to 14 at 51-37 headed into the fourth.
 
Union then outscored William Smith 18-14 in the final frame to close out the victory. The lead never fell below 12 in the period as the Herons were never allowed to score more than four straight points. Junior Kennedy Clark led the way with seven points and Lee added sixth in the fourth.
 
Union finished the game shooting 41.7 percent (30 of 72) from the field and corralled 49 rebounds on the night, leading to a 44-26 edge scoring in the paint. The visitors also converted 15 Heron turnovers into 16 points to help secure the victory.
 
Union will return to action tomorrow with another big conference clash at Rochester Institute of Technology beginning at 2 p.m.