SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Senior Kate Peek led five Garnet Chargers in double figures with a game-high 18 points as the Union College women's basketball team remained unbeaten on the young season with an 82-75 victory over Middlebury College on Saturday afternoon at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Peek hit 6-of-11 shots from the field and 5-of-8 from long range on the way to the highest point total of her collegiate career, playing a game-high 38 minutes in the process. Classmate Grace Ardito matched her career high with 17 points thanks in part to a trio of three-pointers, followed by fellow senior Jelena Perovic with 16 points and 12 points and first-year Ryley Tate-Padian with a season-high 12 points in 14 minutes off the bench.
 
Senior Grace Ceseretti flirted with a triple-double before finishing with seven points, 12 assists and nine rebounds, and sophomore Olivia Cunningham hauled in a career-high 18 rebounds to go with 10 points. Cunningham's 18 caroms and Ceseretti's 12 dimes both rank second on the school's respective single-game lists, the highest totals for a Union player since 2011 and 2018, respectively.
 
Union shot 50.0 percent from the field in both the first and second periods to hang with the Panthers, scoring 43 points over the opening 20 minutes to take a 43-39 edge into the intermission. The first period featured six lead changes, with a three-point play by Tate-Padian accounting for the final lead change and putting Union up 20-19 after one frame. The home team did not trail in the second, building its lead up to as many as 12 on two occasions before the Panthers got back within four at the half.
 
The lead changed eight times in a back-and-fourth third period, as Peek and Tate-Padian scored a team-best five points each. Neither team led by more than four in the frame, as both teams scored 18 points to keep the garnet and white up by four headed into the fourth.
 
Despite the worst shooting frame of the game, Union sunk 9-of-12 free throws in the fourth period and made enough defensive stops to emerge with the win. Leading by just one (65-64) at the midway point, Tate-Padian hit a layup to bump the lead back up to three and kickstart a 10-0 run that made the score 75-64 after a Cunningham layup with 1:14 on the clock. The Garnet Chargers hit 7-of-9 freebies the rest of the way to seal the win.
 
Union shot 42.4 percent (28 of 66) from the field and 47.4 percent (9 of 19) from beyond the arc, as well as hitting 17-of-22 (77.3 percent) from the charity stripe. The home team dominated Middlebury on the glass to the tune of a 57-34 advantage and finished with 19 second-chance points, which helped to overcome 21 turnovers.
 
The Garnet Chargers will bring their unbeaten record into a matchup with another NESCAC foe, #5 Bowdoin College, on Monday at 4 p.m. at Viniar Athletic Center.