Norah Niesz hit double figures for the St. Lawrence University women's basketball team as they began their conference schedule with a game in Schenectady, N.Y. against Union College, where they fell by a final score of 80-57 on Friday night.

"They got us good tonight! They are a good team with four seniors, one of which is one of the top players in our league, and they performed well tonight," said Saints head coach Dan Roiger. "I didn't think we played poorly, they just played better. Part of that was our defense, we just could not stay down and defend well. We learn from it and carry it into the second game of the weekend against RPI tomorrow."

St. Lawrence kicked the game off with back-to-back three-balls to take a lead, with Hannah Van Dyke and Niesz draining two from beyond the arc early. That made it 6-2 in the first, then after the Garnet Chargers battled to a 7-6 lead, then Mason Baker-Schlendering knocked down a jumper to give St. Lawrence another advantage at 8-7.

The teams then traded points between that point and the end of the quarter. Margaret Dougher carried the lions share of the offense with four points, and the Saints trailed Union 18-16.

After the Garnet Chargers got the lead with a jumper late in the second, they turned that into a 10-0 run. They ultimately outscored the Saints 24-13, in a pivotal point of the game which put them in the drivers' seat heading into halftime.

Union continued its run with a 23-12 advantage in the third. Norah Niesz connected on her second three-pointer of the game, while Niesz and Jackie Malley each added jumpers. Union's scoring stretch pushed its lead to 65-41 heading into the fourth.

St. Lawrence found more of an offensive touch in the fourth, scoring 16 points. Stevie Bannon and Emily Wendt made contributions in the frame, as the Saints had a 16-15 advantage on points in the fourth but fell 80-57.

Niesz led St. Lawrence with 13 points. Jackie Malley added 10, and both Dougher and Bannon finished with six and seven points respectively. Wendt also posted six points. St. Lawrence shot 20-for-59 and went 7-for-15 from three.

They resume their schedule against RPI Saturday with their final conference match-up of the calendar year.