HOMEWOOD, Ala. | The University of Alabama in Huntsville women's basketball team saw its run at the Gulf South Conference Women's Basketball Championships come to an end on Saturday as the fourth-seeded Chargers fell to No. 1 seed Union by an 89-62 score. Union improves to 25-5 with the win, while UAH slips to 19-11.
 
UAH will now await its NCAA tournament fate as the field of 64 including the eight teams from the South Region will be announced in a selection show aired on NCAA.com on Sunday night at 9 p.m. 
 
The Chargers were No. 8 in the final installment of the regional poll that was released on Wednesday.
 
Emiline Payne led the Chargers in scoring on Saturday, knocking down three 3-pointers on her way to scoring 14, and she was joined in double figures by Holly Harris who had 12 and Katie Speegle who chipped in with 10.
 
The 14 points are the second-most in a game this year for Payne, and the three 3-pointers are a career-best for the junior.
 
Union was paced by Jada Smith who scored 26.
 
The contest was nip-and-tuck in the opening half with the Chargers bouncing back after falling into an early 12-3 hole, pulling back within one less than three minutes later as a pair Payne shots from the charity stripe capping off a 10-2 run to make it 14-13 with 4:39 left in the opening quarter.
 
A Harris bucket would knot the contest at 17-17 at the 3:00 mark before Union carried a 22-17 advantage into the second quarter.
 
UAH would pull back within one twice early on in the next period, and though Union would close the quarter on a strong push, Harris would make one of 10 3-pointers the Chargers had on the afternoon just prior to the expiration of the stanza to create a 37-29 lead for the Bulldogs at the break.
 
Union came out hot to start the third, scoring the first six points of the quarter on their way to outscoring the Chargers 32-10 in the period, but UAH would show strong character in the fourth, outscoring the top seed 23-20 to create the 89-62 final.
 
On the afternoon, the Chargers 33.3 percent compared to a 54.1 percent shooting mark for the Bulldogs, and Union led the rebounding battle by a 46-26 margin with Aryn Sanders leading the Chargers with eight boards.
 
Saturday marked UAH's third overall appearance in the GSC tournament semifinals, and it represented UAH's first trip since 2013.

Prior to the contest, UAH's Sloan Mann was honored as the GSC Women's Basketball Championships Champion Scholar-Athlete. This is the first year that the league office has given out the Champion Scholar-Athlete Award, and the award is handed out at the final site of each GSC Championship, where the student-athlete with the highest cumulative GPA among teams participating is recognized.