POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – The Union College women's basketball team hung tough with #25 Vassar College on Saturday afternoon, but the Garnet Chargers came up short in a 60-53 defeat at the Vassar Athletic and Fitness Center.
 
Despite the loss, Union (7-14, 6-8 Liberty League) remains in sixth place in the conference standings with four games to go, 1.5 games behind Rochester Institute of Technology in fifth place and one game ahead of William Smith College in the seventh spot.
 
Senior Kennedy Clark led Union in scoring with 12 points, followed by sophomore Jelena Perovic with 10 points and six rebounds. Classmate Grace Arcoleo added nine points and a team-best seven rebounds for Union as well.
 
Vassar (20-1, 14-0 Liberty League) was paced by Sierra McDermed with 26 points and 15 rebounds and Tova Gelb with 16 points and a game-high 18 boards.
 
Thanks in large part to McDermed and Gelb, Vassar posted a 57-32 edge on the glass and a huge 21-2 advantage in second-chance points, which helped to counteract the team's 27.5 percent (19 of 69) shooting. Union shot 38.2 percent (21 of 55) from the field on the day.
 
After Vassar scored four of the game's first six points, Union followed with an 11-4 run to take a 13-8 lead late in the opening frame. Perovic had a team-best four points and Clark added a three during the run, which concluded with a layup by junior Sophia Poplyk with 2:27 remaining. Despite a last-minute Vassar basket, Union took a 13-10 lead into the second stanza after holding the Brewers to 3-of-19 shooting.
 
Both teams shot 33.3 percent from the field in the second stanza, with the Brewers taking 18 shots to Union's 12 to take back the lead. The Union lead grew to 16-10 after an early three by sophomore Grace Ardito, but the home team narrowed the gap and eventually closed on an 8-2 run to regain the lead at 24-23 after 20 minutes.
 
Vassar then turned the tide with a decisive third frame, doubling up Union by a 20-10 margin to take a 44-33 advantage into the final period. McDermed had nine points to almost single-handedly match Union's total, as the Garnet Chargers shot 3-of-13 from the field and sent Vassar to the charity stripe 10 times.
 
The visitors attempted to battle back in the final frame, using a 10-5 run to get back within six after a second straight layup by junior Jenna Forman with 6:20 left. Back-to-back threes by Clark made it a four-point game at 55-51 with under a minute remaining, but Vassar hit 5-of-6 free throws the rest of the way to seal the victory.
 
Union will return home for the penultimate weekend of the regular season, beginning on Friday with a 5:30 p.m. matchup against Clarkson University at Viniar Athletic Center.