PENSACOLA, Fla. – The UWF women's basketball team shot 47 percent and held off a late rally to defeat previously unbeaten No. 5 Union, 72-69, at the UWF Field House on Friday.
 
Senior Jaclyn Jarnot was locked in from the opening tip as she finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds for her team-leading seventh double-double, while sophomore Zoe Piller ended the night with 16 points, 10 boards and a career-high four blocked shots.
 
The win was the first over a ranked opponent since defeating No. 20/19 Lee almost a year to the day back on Dec. 11, 2021. The Argonauts had lost their last four to ranked foes.
 
UWF (4-4, 4-2 Gulf South) played well in the opening two quarters in building a 40-32 lead, but really created the distance it needed in the third.
 
The Argonauts outscored the Lady Bulldogs 24-14 and led 64-46. But Union fought back and finally got some turnovers with its press. Union tied the game at 67 with 1:32 to play.
 
UWF got a layup and a free throw from Jarnot to go ahead 70-67. Union pulled back within one on a jumper with 11 seconds left. After a UWF turnover, the Lady Bulldogs went for the go ahead bucket but Mariah Taylor drew a charge with four seconds left, forcing Union to foul on the inbounds. Graduate student Haylee Luttrell made both free throws to end the game with nine points.
 
"Super proud of our team for weathering that fourth quarter storm," UWF head coach Stephanie Lawrence Yelton said. "We played really good until the fourth quarter when turnovers hurt us and they started getting loose in transition. But down the stretch we stuck together and executed well."
 
Union (5-1, 4-1) was led by Samariah Thompson who had a career high 28 points on 11-of-17 from the field.
 
UWF will meet Christian Brothers on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the UWF Field House.