BARBOURVILLE, Ky. — The Union College women’s basketball team dropped its third Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) game of the season as the Bulldogs came up short against No. 18 Reinhardt 76-64 on Thursday.

With the loss, Union falls to 4-5 overall and 2-3 in AAC play. The Lady Eagles improve to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the AAC.

Union knew they would need to stay diligent in order to take on the highly ranked Lady Eagles, and that’s just what the Bulldogs did in the first period. The Bulldogs started off heated from the beginning as Dannika Prater put the Bulldogs up 2-0 in the first minute. With four lead changes, it was Union who was ahead at the beginning of the second period 19-14.

The Bulldogs started off the night shooting hot, continuing to put the pressure on in the second. Reinhardt went on an eight-point run taking the lead, but Cheyanne Stidham answered with a 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs up by one. The lead was short lived for Union as Reinhardt went on a 10-0 run taking the lead 34-25 with 3:13 remaining. The Bulldogs battled to cut the Eagles lead in half and headed into the locker room trailing 36-31.

In the third quarter, the Bulldogs came out of halftime with vengeance and tied up the score 38-38 after guard Nannilena White banked a shot from behind the arc. Reinhardt’s Jaleya Mosely answered back with a 3-pointer of her own, putting the Eagles back in the led 41-38 with 6:51 remaining.

Despite the valiant effort, Union couldn’t find the answer down the stretch against the Lady Eagles. Reinhardt took a 60-49 lead into the fourth and led by as much as 16 en route to the 76-64 victory.

Overall, both teams were close in numbers as Reinhardt only outrebounded the Bulldogs by one going 37-36, and outshot them by seven shots in the paint.

Brooke Hammonds paced Union with 11 points going 3-for-6 from the field and White ended the night with 10 points netting a 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Prater also had a strong displaying finishing with nine points while Stidham and Logan Calvert grabbed down eight points apiece.

Reinhardt had four players finish with double digits while the team hit a 42 percent from the field for the game.

Up Next

Union travels to Cleveland, Georgia for another conference match on Saturday, as it faces Truett McConnell. Tipoff is set for 5:30 pm.