SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – The Union College women's basketball team will take part in the postseason for the fourth straight year as the sixth-seeded Garnet Chargers make the short trip north to third-seeded Skidmore College for the first round of the Liberty League Tournament on Tuesday, February 25 at 5:30 p.m.
Union enters the postseason with a 13-12 (10-8 Liberty League) record and finished in a tie with St. Lawrence University for fifth place, with the Saints earning the tiebreaker thanks to sweeping Union in the regular season. St. Lawrence faces off with fourth-seeded Rochester Institute of Technology in the other first-round matchup, while top-seeded Ithaca College and second-seeded Vassar College received byes into the semifinal round.
POSTSEASON HISTORY: Union is making its fourth straight conference tournament appearance under fourth-year head coach
Katie Marcella. The team is 3-13 in the postseason since capturing the program's only title in the final year of the Upstate Collegiate Athletic Association (now Liberty League) in 2004, and is 6-17 all-time in conference tournament games.
ALL-TIME VS. SKIDMORE: Skidmore and Union have played at least once in every season since Union's inaugural season of 1975-76, and the teams' 83 all-time meetings are the second-most for a Union opponent behind only Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Despite that familiarity, the teams have only met once in the postseason, with Union taking a 61-51 win in the Liberty League semifinals on February 27, 2009. Union is 47-36 all-time against the Thoroughbreds, but Skidmore has won five of the last six meetings overall.
MEETINGS THIS YEAR: The teams split the 2024-25 regular-season series, with both squads winning on their home floors. The Garnet Chargers rolled to a
74-57 victory on January 11 in Schenectady behind a game-high 16 points and 11 rebounds from junior
Jelena Perovic, scoring the third-most points in a game by a Skidmore opponent all season. Union again reached the 70-point plateau in the second meeting on January 31, but a slow start allowed the Thoroughbreds to take control early and hold on for a
76-72 win despite a career-high 29 points from senior
Jenna Forman.
DEFENSE FIRST: Union leads the Liberty League and ranks 29th in Division III by holding opponents to 33.0 percent shooting on the season, and the Garnet Chargers also are the best team in the conference in corralling missed shots, ranking 11th in the country by averaging 32.2 defensive boards per outing. On the year, Union is 10-2 when holding the opponent to under 33 percent shooting, but just 3-10 when the opponent shoots higher than 33 percent from the field.
BLOCK PARTY: Union ranked 13th in Division III by averaging over 5.3 blocks per game this season and has had at least two blocks in every game this year, including a season-high 11 at Bard College and 10 at Skidmore. Senior
Jenna Forman is tied for first in the conference with 41 blocks and junior
Jelena Perovic ranks fourth with 35 rejections on the year.
MAKING THE LEAP: Junior
Jelena Perovic is the conference's leading scorer not from Vassar this season, averaging 13.6 points per game to rank fourth among Liberty League players, and also ranks sixth in the conference by grabbing 6.9 rebounds per outing. The forward remains one of the most effective shooters in the conference as well, ranking fourth in field-goal percentage (.439) and sixth in free-throw percentage (.746).
AT THE FOR-FRONT: Senior
Jenna Forman is having the best season of her career, ranking second on the team with 10.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game and tying for first in the conference in blocks. The forward has stepped up her offensive game in recent weeks, averaging 13.4 points per game over the last nine contests, including a career-high 29 in the last meeting with Skidmore.
ABOUT THE THOROUGHBREDS: Skidmore (14-11, 12-6 Liberty League) enters the postseason as the top team in the Liberty League in turnover margin (+5.72), helped by an average of 13.2 steals per game that ranks 25th in Division III. The Thoroughbreds have a varied offensive attack that sees no player average in double figures, with Cassie Davidson leading the way at 9.0 points per game for a team that averages 58.8 points per outing. Sarah Chambers hauls in a team-best 5.6 caroms per contest, while Madison Meyer leads four Skidmore players in the top-seven of the conference in steals with a team-best 52. During the team's current five-game winning streak, the defense has allowed only 48.4 points per game and averaged 17.0 steals per game.
WHAT'S NEXT: The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the Liberty League Tournament semifinals on Friday, where they will head to second-seeded Vassar College.
2025 Liberty League Women's Basketball Tournament
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 – First Round
#6 Union College at #3 Skidmore College, 5:30 p.m.
#5 St. Lawrence University at #4 Rochester Institute of Technology, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, February 28, 2025 – Semifinals
Skidmore/Union at #2 Vassar College
RIT/St. Lawrence at #1 Ithaca College
Sunday, March 2, 2025 – Championship
Semifinal Winners
