SCHENECTADY, N.Y. – Junior Olivia Pachla led all players with 18 points and 13 rebounds for her first collegiate double-double as the Union College women's basketball team finished off 2021 with a 77-45 rout of Middlebury College in non-conference action on Thursday afternoon at Viniar Athletic Center.
 
Pachla had a huge game to lead Union (2-5), hitting 9-of-14 shots from the floor and adding two blocks and an assist in just 20 minutes of action. Classmate Megan Lee also posted her first double-double of the year, scoring 15 points with a career-best 10 rebounds while also chipping in three steals, two assists and two blocks in a well-rounded effort.
 
Senior Amber Raisner also had a good effort with eight points, five boards and a team-best four assists, while first-years Riley Rottkamp and Emma Riley played well off the bench with eight and six points, respectively.
 
Union shot the ball extremely well to finish off the year, hitting 34-of-66 attempts (51.5 percent) from the field. The effort marks the first time in nearly four years that the team hit more than 50.0 percent of its field goals, since a win at Bard College on January 16, 2018.
 
The Dutchwomen started the game well by hitting their first three shots, as Lee, Raisner and Pachla helped the home team to an early 6-2 lead. Middlebury used an 8-2 run to take a 10-8 lead, but a jumper and subsequent free throw by junior Kendall Degenhardt put Union back in front and the home team never trailed again. Union closed the first quarter on a 12-4 run, led by five points from Degenhardt, to take a 20-14 lead into the second quarter.
 
The home team took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Panthers 19-9. After Riley started off the frame with her first career points, Pachla followed up with three straight buckets to build up a 28-18 lead at the midway point. Five points by Rottkamp and four from Riley helped extend the Union lead, with Riley finishing with a putback that beat the buzzer and sent Union into the locker room up 39-23.
 
The Dutchwomen shot 56.3 percent (9 of 16) in the second stanza while limiting Middlebury to 4-of-18 shooting (22.2 percent).
 
The home team continued to pour on the offense in the third quarter, posting a 23-9 edge on the scoreboard to assume full control. After two quick Middlebury buckets, Union went on a 17-2 run over a 6:20 span, hitting 8-of-11 shots in the process. Lee and Pachla started the run with two buckets each, followed soon after by two Raisner baskets, a three from Rottkamp and a jumper from first-year Claudia Porto. The first four collegiate points from sophomore Grace Enselek ended the frame to put Union up by 30 (62-32) headING into the fourth.
 
The Union lead grew to as many as 38 points midway through the fourth quarter, when a jumper by senior Laura Vinton capped a 10-2 run to make the score 72-34, and the Dutchwomen cruised through the remainder of the game.
 
Union is slated to ring in the New Year on Saturday, when the team takes on Eastern Connecticut State University on day one of the Hampton Inn West Springfield/Naismith Classic beginning at 4 p.m.