SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Union College head women's basketball coach Katie Marcella was recognized as the D3hoops.com Region 3 Coach of the Year while senior Jelena Perovic and sophomore Olivia Cunningham both earned spots on the All-Region 3 second team for the first time in their careers, the website announced on Monday afternoon.
 
Marcella is the first Union women's basketball mentor ever to be named a regional coach of the year by D3hoops.com and the first to be honored by any organization since Mary Ellen Burt was recognized by the WBCA in 2002-03. Perovic and Cunningham, meanwhile, are the first pair of Union teammates to earn D3hoops All-Region honors in the same season and bump the program's total D3hoops All-Region selections up from three to five all-time.
 
Perovic adds her first career All-Region laurels after previously being named Liberty League Player of the Year as a senior. The forward finished the year as the conference's only player in the top-six in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.6 points (second) and 7.0 rebounds (fourth) per game, while also leading the conference in both field-goal percentage (.468) and ranking second in blocks (38). The Montenegro native scored in double-figures in 23-of-28 games with six double-doubles this season, and was twice named the Liberty League Performer of the Week. Her 382 points as a senior rank ninth on the program's single-season list and are the most by a Union player since 2008-09.
 
A three-time All-Conference honoree, Perovic finished her stellar four-year career with 1,103 points and 582 rebounds, playing in 98 games with 70 starts in garnet. The 12th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points, she ended her time in Schenectady seventh all-time in scoring and 10th in rebounding at Union, as well as fifth in field goals (468), sixth in both blocks (104) and free-throw percentage (.738), ninth in field-goal percentage (.468) and 10th in rebounds.
 
Cunningham is also honored by D3hoops.com for the first time after earning Liberty League Defensive Player of the Year and All-League second-team recognition as a sophomore. The forward led the Liberty League in rebounding by 1.5 rebounds per game (10.5 rpg) and had a conference-best nine double-doubles, while also ranking third in the conference in assists (78), sixth in blocks (20) and ninth in steals (48). The forward broke the school single-season rebounding record that stood since 2000-01 with 283 caroms and she ranked 14th in Division III in defensive boards per game (8.3) and 33rd in total rebounds. She finished the season with 15 games of at least 10 boards, including 18 against Middlebury College in November that is tied for second on the school single-season rebounding list.
  
Along with assistant coaches Richard Ziegler, Mike Smith and Rachel Colfer '09, Marcella adds D3hoops.com regional recognition to the Liberty League Conference Staff of the Year honors that were earned after guiding the Garnet Chargers to the program's third Liberty League regular-season title and second conference tournament championship in 2025-26. Union entered the NCAA Tournament on a 10-game winning streak and finished the season with a 22-6 record, tied for the second-most wins in a season in program history.