SCHENECTADY, N.Y. - The Bard College women's basketball team chipped away, and chipped away, and midway through the second half the Raptors had cut a 13-point-deficit to one in Saturday's contest at Union College.

In the end, 27 turnovers and some good foul shooting by Union down the stretch gave the Dutchwomen a 56-47 win over Bard in a Liberty League contest.

Union improved to 7-4 overall, 2-2 in the Liberty League. Bard is 4-7, 0-3.

A 15-2 run in the first half gave Union a 20-7 lead, and the game began to resemble Bard's two previous Liberty League games, which were losses marred by big runs and poor shooting. Not this time, though.

The Raptors battled back before the first half was over, and a three-pointer by Bianka Bell at the buzzer left Union with a 27-19 halftime lead. Union had a dozen offensive rebounds in the first half alone and Bard had 15 turnovers.

But the Raptors picked it up on offense right away in the second half and slowly crept closer. They cut the halftime deficit to six, then to four a couple of minutes later, then to three with 12:50 to go, and then to 37-36 with 10:19 left in the game.

Union pushed the lead back to six, helped in part by turnovers on three consecutive possessions by Bard, but the Raptors had life again when Bell hit a three-pointer with 55 seconds left to trim Union's edge to 50-47. The Dutchwomen made 6-of-6 free throws in the final minute to pull it out.

By game's end, Bard had erased Union's rebounding dominance and ended up shooting a better percentage from the field. But the 27 turnovers led to 23 Union points, and it was just too much to overcome.

Junior Cailin Schmeer (Ambler, PA) led all scorers with 26 points for Union; no other players finished in double figures.

Bard placed four players in double figures. Tytravia Riley had 13 points and nine rebounds; Bianka Bell had 11 points and seven rebounds; Liz Freud had 11 points and five rebounds, and Andra Moye added 10 points in just 21 minutes played.

Bard's Liberty League home opener is on Tuesday night vs. Rensselaer. Riley enters that game 18 points shy of 1,000 for her career. Follow the game via Live Stats or Live Video or show up.