SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's basketball team whittled a 19-point deficit down to six late in the second half, but the Garnet Chargers could not complete the comeback in a 70-60 loss to Vassar College in Liberty League action on Friday night at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Sophomore Jelena Perovic and junior Jenna Forman both had big efforts for Union (5-11, 4-5 Liberty League) against the conference's lone unbeaten squad. Perovic scored a team-best 16 points and hauled in a career-best 16 rebounds for her second straight double-double, while Forman came one rebound short of her first career double-double for the second straight game, finishing with 15 points, nine boards and four blocks. Junior Emma Riley also chipped in 15 points and four caroms off the bench for the Garnet Chargers.
 
Only five players scored a point for Vassar (15-1, 9-0 Liberty League), but it was enough thanks to 26 points and nine rebounds from Sierra McDermed and 22 points from Julia Harvey. Tova Gelb added 14 points and nine boards for the Brewers as well.
 
The teams played evenly during a free-flowing opening frame that did not see the first foul committed until after the eight-minute mark. The Brewers jumped out to an early 9-2 lead thanks to seven points from Harvey, but an 8-4 run for the home team brought Union back within a basket at 13-10 after a Perovic layup with 2:09 on the clock. A layup by senior Maddy Mandalinci provided Union's final points of the frame as Vassar went into the second with a 16-12 advantage.
 
The Brewers started to find their stroke from long range in the second stanza, hitting 4-of-8 from beyond the arc to outscore the Garnet Chargers by a 21-11 margin. After a three from Riley on Union's opening possession, Vassar responded with a 13-2 run to take a 31-17 lead after a three from McDermed. Two more McDermed threes later in the period countered a pair of Union baskets to make the score 37-23 in favor of the visitors at the half.
 
Forman almost single-handedly kept Union in the game in the third period, scoring 13 of the team's 17 points. Despite Forman's best effort, however, the home team was outscored 20-17 in the period and went into the final frame down by a 57-40 margin.
 
Vassar appeared to be comfortably ahead leading 61-42 with 7:42 left, but the Garnet Chargers made one last push to get back in the game. A string of 13 straight points in less than four minutes made it a 61-55 game with 3:35 on the clock after a three from senior Kennedy Clark, with Riley providing a pair of threes during the stretch. A Perovic layup with 2:46 left kept it a six-point game, but the home team missed a pair of shots and picked a bad time for some carelessness with the ball to allow the Brewers to stay in front. A three from first-year Casey Weeren with 23 ticks left gave Union some last hope, but Vassar finished off the game from the charity stripe.
 
Union shot 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) from the field and hit 4-of-8 three-point attempts in the fourth quarter to get back into the contest, and finished the night shooting 41.9 percent (26 of 62) from the field. The defense limited Vassar to just 34.3 percent shooting (24 of 70) from the field, the Brewers' second-worst shooting game of the season.
 
The team was partially done in by 22 turnovers that Vassar converted into 26 points, as well as the Brewers' 14-2 edge in fast-break scoring.
 
After a rare Saturday off from competition, the Garnet Chargers will start a busy week on Tuesday against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute tipping off at Viniar Athletic Center at 5:30 p.m.