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ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Senior Grace Enselek led four Garnet Chargers in double figures with 14 points as Union clinched its spot in the postseason with a 67-62 victory over Rochester Institute of Technology on Friday night at Clark Memorial Gymnasium.
With the victory, Union (10-14, 9-8 Liberty League) secured its spot in the postseason and can finish no lower than fifth place in the Liberty League standings. The Garnet Chargers still have a shot to move into fourth place if they defeat William Smith College and St. Lawrence University loses to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute tomorrow. If both of those do not happen, Union will travel to SLU for the first round of the postseason on Tuesday.
Enselek led a balanced attack with 14 points and also grabbed seven rebounds for Union, followed closely by sophomore Jelena Perovic with 13 points and seven caroms. Junior Emma Riley just missed a double-double with 11 points and a game-high nine rebounds, and senior Kennedy Clark came on in the second half to finish with 10 points.
Union started the game on a 6-2 run to take its first lead of the contest, then scored eight straight points soon after to build up a 14-6 advantage with 2:41 left before RIT got back in the game with the final seven points of the period. Despite the Tigers shooting 54.5 percent in the frame, Union stayed ahead by forcing six RIT turnovers.
Union turned up the intensity on both ends of the floor in the second stanza, outscoring RIT (8-16, 7-10 Liberty League) by a 23-16 margin to take an eight-point lead into intermission. The visitors shot 56.3 percent (9 of 16) from the floor and kept RIT in the teens for much of the frame, leading by as many as 14 late in the period.
Nineteen of the team’s 23 points were scored by the three Graces, with Enselek netting seven and sophomores Grace Ardito and Grace Arcoleo both going for six. After an 8-0 run to start the period, the lead grew to double figures for the first time after an Arcoleo three with 4:04 on the clock and balooned to 14 after a Riley bucket with 2:43 remaining. RIT lessened the deficit with an 8-2 finishing run to the half, with Kaitlyn Bockelman chipping in five of her half-leading 10 points.
The Garnet Chargers went cold in the third period, hitting only two of their first 15 shots and allowing the Tigers to tie the game at 43 with 1:15 remaining. After a Clark layup with 8:11 on the clock, Union went more than seven minutes without a field goal and RIT went on a 12-2 run to even the score. A three-point play by Enselek broke the run with 1:05 remaining to put Union back ahead, but a three from Emma Waite knotted the score headed into the fourth.
The teams traded the lead four times in the first three minutes of the final period, with back-to-back layups by junior Jenna Forman and Arcoleo putting Union up 55-52 with 6:38 left and forcing an RIT timeout. Both teams started to make shots in the minutes after that; however, Union had an answer for every RIT basket.
Perovic had a huge second-chance hoop with 1:32 left to put the visitors up 65-60. After misses by both teams, Enselek sent a Waite layup attempt out of play to keep it a five-point lead with 35 ticks left. The Garnet Chargers continued to play great defense on the possession, forcing RIT to drain almost the entire shot clock before a missed shot that Forman grabbed with 13 seconds on the clock. After a foul, Clark sunk two free throws to extend the lead to seven at 67-60 and seal the win.
Union finished the night shooting 40.0 percent (26 of 65) from the field and also hit 10-of-12 attempts from the charity stripe, compared to 36.9 percent (24 of 65) shooting for RIT overall.
Union will close out the regular season tomorrow with a 2 p.m. tipoff at William Smith.
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