SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's basketball team dropped another close Liberty League contest on Friday night at Viniar Athletic Center, falling to Rochester Institute of Technology in overtime by a 64-63 (OT) score in the penultimate game of the regular season.
 
The loss keeps Union (12-12, 9-8 Liberty League) in a fifth-place tie with St. Lawrence University heading into tomorrow's regular-season finale. The Garnet Chargers will be the sixth seed in the postseason unless they defeat William Smith College and St. Lawrence loses to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute tomorrow.
 
Senior Jenna Forman scored a game-high 17 points for Union, followed by junior Jelena Perovic with 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds as well as first-year Olivia Cunningham with 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
 
Maddy Ramsgard scored a team-best 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead RIT (13-11, 11-6 Liberty League), which remains in a third-place tie with Skidmore College with one game to go.
 
Union came out of the games strong on Friday, shooting 52.9 percent (9 of 17) from the field in the opening frame to take a 19-13 edge after 10 minutes. Forman scored the team's first six points before a three by junior Kate Peek knotted the score at nine. After a pair of buckets by Ben Kayser-Cochran, Union rattled off 10 straight points to end the period, with Cunningham and Perovic chipping in four points each to put Union up by six.
 
A freebie by Forman to start the second stanza gave the home team its largest lead of the game at 20-13 and the Garnet Chargers spent the rest of the period fending off the Tigers, never trailing in taking a 32-30 advantage into the half.
 
After a jumper by senior Emma Riley gave Union a 38-34 lead midway through the third period, RIT responded with a 10-2 stretch to take a 44-40 lead before a pair of Forman free throws narrowed the gap to two after 30 minutes. The Tigers opened the fourth with six straight points to take the largest lead of the game at 50-42, but a Cunningham jumper and a Peek three quickly quelled that momentum. After a Forman bucket with 2:10 to go knotted the score at 53, the defenses stood tall to record six straight scoreless possessions down the stretch, with a huge block by Forman in the waning seconds helping to send the game to overtime.
 
Union held the lead on three occasions in overtime, the last coming after a layup by senior Claudia Porto made the score 59-58 with 1:05 left. After a pair of missed opportunities allowed RIT to take a 62-59 lead, junior Grace Ardito came up with a huge three to knot the score at 62 with nine ticks remaining. However the game came down to free throws, as Caroline Henderson hit two from the stripe to put RIT up 64-62 and, after Union was seemingly bailed out by a last-second foul call, Perovic hit one free throw but missed the second to allow the Tigers to escape with the win.
 
Union finished the game shooting 40.0 percent (28 of 70) from the field, while RIT ended the night at 36.9 percent (24 of 65).
 
The Garnet Chargers will look to head into the postseason on a high note tomorrow with a 2 p.m. matchup against William Smith College, as the team celebrates its four seniors with Senior Day.