For the first time since 2004, the Union women’s basketball team has won their conference regular season title, won their postseason conference championship, and advanced to the division 3 NCAA tournament.
About their Remarkable Season
Union’s outstanding regular season lead the conference in several key areas. The team lead the conference in points per game, average scoring margin, field goal percentage, total rebounds, and average defensive rebounds. Their 20-5 regular season record (and 14-2 conference record) is also a significant improvement from last year’s 12-13 overall record and 9-8 conference record.
On Sunday, March 1, 2026, the team defeated RIT by a score of 81-70 to secure a conference championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. Grace Ardito ‘26 lead the tournament in points (28 for the semifinal against SLU, 18 for the final) and was named MOP of the tournament.
Members of the team were also recognized for their outstanding season by the conference. Jelena Perovic ‘26 was named Union’s third conference player of the year and third player to make the first all-conference team for three consecutive years. She is the only Union player in the top 6 of the conference in both scoring and rebounding this season.
Olivia Cunningham ‘28 is the first Union player to earn the defensive player of the year award by herself. She leads the Liberty League in average rebounds by nearly two rebounds per game (10.7 rpg) and has a conference best nine double-doubles. She also enters the NCAA tournament with 277 rebounds (58 offensive, 218 defensive), five away from breaking the school single season record of 281, which has stood since Heather Bennett ‘02 set it in 2001.
Kate Peek ‘26 was named to the all-conference second team. Her 60 three-pointers this season rank third in Union’s all-time record book, and she averages 10.7 points per game. She also currently holds the school record for free-throw percentage in a single season at 89.8%, going 44 for 49.
To round it off, Union’s coaching staff was named as conference staff of the year; Head Coach Katie Marcella and Assistant Coaches Richard Ziegler, Mike Smith and Rachel Colfer ’09 were named as Union’s first coaches of the year since the 2008-2009 season. They coached the team to the program’s third Liberty League regular season title and will coach the team in their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2004.
About the NCAA Tournament
Union heads to Bates College to play #4/6 Smith College on Friday, March 6 at 4:45 p.m. This is their first meeting since 2003, and marks Smith’s 8th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance (not counting the 2020-21 season, which they did not play).
According to the NCAA’s Power Index Rankings (NPI), (a consistent, formulaic ranking for NCAA tournament seeding and at-large bids) the Bates regional tournament has the second highest NPI index ranking of all regional groups in the tournament. #4/6 Smith College is also the only top-10 ranked team to be seeded second in a group.
Additionally, for both times in the past two years, Smith has gone to the NCAA championship game and lost to NYU. Smith has also only lost one game during the regular season. Union enters the tournament on a 10-game winning streak, while Smith enters the tournament on a 13-game winning streak.
Fans can watch the Smith-Union game on the NCAA website by signing up for a free account. If Union wins their game against Smith, they will play against the winner of the Bates-Merchant Marine Academy game on Saturday, March 7 at 7:15 p.m. The winner of that game will advance to the Sweet 16 round.
