On Saturday, February 16, the women’s basketball team played their final game of the regular season in the Viniar Athletic Center against William Smith College. The team celebrated their two seniors, Sophie Borg ’19 and Nicole Conley ’19, in their last home game with the team.

Borg and Conley both registered double-doubles as the Union College Women’s Basketball team went into the postseason on a high note with a 67-61 victory.

Playing in their final home game, Conley and Borg helped carry the Dutchwomen to victory. Conley scored a game-high 19 points and added 11 rebounds, while Borg scored 14 points and grabbed a team-best 12 rebounds. Freshman Amber Raisner ’22 also had a big game for the Dutchwomen, scoring 18 points.

The Dutchwomen struggled out of the gates, making only one of their first eight shots as William Smith took an early 6-3 lead. The Dutchwomen came back and finished the quarter on a 10-2 run thanks to eight points from Raisner, including a buzzer-beating three that gave the home team a 13-8 lead.

A three pointer from junior Joana Santos ’20 and a jumper from classmate Elly Vaughan ’20 put Union up by double figures for the first time midway through the second stanza. The home team led by as many as 17 in the quarter after back-to-back threes by Conley and sophomore Corina Lindsay ’21 put Union up 34-17.

The Dutchwomen went into the half with a 36-24 lead. The deficit never fell lower than nine points in the third quarter, as the Dutchwomen closed on a 6-0 run to take their largest lead of the game (52-35) heading into the fourth.

Thanks to their excellent play over the first 30 minutes, Union was able to overcome a rough-shooting final frame. Despite struggling from the field, the Dutchwomen won the game at the free-throw line, converting 13-of-15 shots from the stripe over the final 3:49. Borg helped close out the game by sinking all six shots from the line during that stretch.

Union shot just 32.7 percent (18 of 55) from the field, but the team got to the line 35 times and made 26 (74.3 percent). The defense also limited William Smith to 21-of-70 shooting (30.0 percent) from the field to secure the win.

The Dutchwomen finished their regular season with a record of 16-8 and 11-7 in the Liberty League.

The Dutchwomen and Herons will meet for a third time on Tuesday, when both teams head back to Geneva for the first round of the Liberty League Tournament.