CARROLLTON, Ga. – The UWF women's basketball team opened Gulf South Conference play with a 54-44 road win over West Georgia at the UWG Coliseum on Wednesday night.
 
The Argonauts improved to 5-1 with their fifth-consecutive victory and fourth-straight over the Wolves. UWF also won its league opener for the sixth time in the last eight seasons.
 
Zoe Piller led the offense with 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, while finishing with seven rebounds and a pair of assists. She had buckets on three possessions over a 2-minute stretch in the fourth quarter as the Argonauts maintained a double-digit lead.
 
Jaclyn Jarnot had her fifth-straight double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds. She also had two blocked shots.
 
But for all of the offense created by the UWF inside duo, head coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton was most pleased with how well her team stuck to the defensive game plan.
 
"The game was aggressive and physical all night long," she said. "We committed to communicating, helping each other and rebounding on the defensive end of the floor, and that translated into being able to score on the offensive end."
 
UWF outrebounded the Wolves 43-30 while holding them to just three second-chance points and only four fast break points.
 
The first half went back-and-forth with six lead changes and a tie, with neither team leading by more than six points.
 
The teams traded baskets to start the third quarter before UWF took the lead for good, getting a Gabby Brown jumper, a Charlotte Ellmore layup and a 3-point play from Brown to go up 36-30.
 
From there, UWF's defense took over, holding UWG to five field goals, 23 percent shooting and three turnovers in the final 15 minutes.
 
"I thought our guard play down the stretch was really solid, especially when (UWG) started to extend their pressure to try and get back into the game," Yelton added.
 
For the Argos, all five starters had at least two field goals and had at least five rebounds.
 
UWG (2-3, 0-1) was led by Zaria Bankston's 10 points. Siera Carter came into the game averaging a GSC-best 22 points and finished with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting. She had just three points against the Argos in a Feb. 2021 meeting.
 
UWF will return to play this Saturday at Noon when it welcomes Columbus State (5-2) to the UWF Field House.