Air Force Opens Against TCU At 2008 MWC Championships
3/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 11, 2008
Tournament Notes in PDF Format 
Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
#7 Air Force Falcons (10-18, 4-12) vs. #2 TCU Horned Frogs (20-12, 13-3)
2008 Mountain West Conference Championships
Quarterfinals
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 • 7:30 p.m. (PST)
Las Vegas, Nev. • Thomas & Mack Center (18,500)
Radio/TV:
Radio is available in Colorado Springs on the Sports Animal 1300 AM and online at www.goairforcefalcons.com. Jim Arthur provides the play-by-play for all the Air Force games. The game will also be televised live on the Mountain West Sports Network (The Mtn.). Bill Doleman (Play-by-play), Andrea Lloyd (Color) and James Bates (Sideline) call the action for the game.
Livestats:
www.goairforcefalcons.com and www.themwc.com.
Last Game:
Air Force lost at San Diego State, 34-64, on Saturday, March 8.
TCU defeated BYU, 73-61, on Saturday, March 8.
Up next:
The winner of this game plays the winner of the #3/#6 game on Thursday, March 13 at approximately 2:30 p.m.
Streaks:
Air Force has a three game losing streak.
TCU has a th game winning streak.
Coaches:
Air Force is coached by Ardie McInelly (Boise State, 1982), who is 50-147 in her seventh season at the Academy and 127-209 in her 12th season overall as a head coach.<>br TCU is coached by Jeff Mittie (Missouri Wester, 1989), who is 193-93 in his 10th year at TCU and 344-132 in his 17th season overall as a head coach.
Last Meeting:
TCU defeated Air Force, 85-50, last Wednesday, March 5, in Fort Worth.
Series History vs. TCU
- Air Force and TCU have met 11 times with the Horned Frogs having won ten of the meetings.
- The two teams first met on Feb. 26, 1988, a 73-72 Air Force win at the Academy.
(More series info, including box score of last meeting on page six of release)
Last Meeting vs. TCU
The Air Force women's basketball team lost to San Diego State, 64-34, in Mountain West Conference women's basketball action Saturday afternoon at Cox Arena. Air Force struggled with San Diego State's pressure defense shooting just 30 percent from the field. The Falcons were held to season low for points in a half and second-lowest total of the year. The Aztecs raced out to an 29-9 halftime lead and never looked back. With Air Force senior Alecia Steele missing her second-straight game with a shoulder injury, San Diego State's Paris Johnson wreaked havoc inside the paint, scoring 23 points and seven rebounds. Allison Duffy added 14 points. Pamela Findlay led Air Force in scoring for the second straight game with 11 points. Chasmine Jones added a career-high 10 points in 17 minutes off the bench.
Scouting TCU
- TCU enters the tournament with a 20-10 overall record and finished second in the MWC with a 13-3 conference mark after defeating BYU 73-61, on Saturday.
- The Frogs are led by senior guard Adrianne Ross, who leads the team with 13.4 points and 3.1 assists per game.
- TCU is averaging 70.2 points per game and allowing 58.7.
Scouting Air Force
- Air Force is 10-18 on the season and finished 4-12 in MWC play, good for seventh place. The Falcons lost at San Diego State,34-64, on Saturday.
- Senior forward Alecia Steele leads the team with 12.3 points per game and is second in the MWC averaging 7.4 rebounds per game.
- Senior Pamela Findlay is second on the team averaging 10.9 points per game and ranks third in the conference in three-point percentage (39.7) and first in free throw percentage (88.3).
- Air Force is averaging 56.3 points per game and allowing 64.6.
Air Force-TCU Connections
- Air Force sophomore guard Ashley Myers is the lone Falcon to hail from Texas. Myers is a San Antonio native and attended Bartlett High School.
Falcons At MWC Tournament
- The Air Force women's basketball team is 1-8 all time at the MWC Championships.
- The Falcons won their first-ever tournament game last year, defeating Colorado State 47-46 in the 8/9 play-in game last year.
- Air Force faces TCU in the tournament for the first time.
- The 7th seed is Air Force's highest ever, tying the 2004-05 and 2005-06 teams.
Last year at MWC Tournament
Hitting the game-winning layup with 0.7 seconds left on the clock, junior Alecia Steele helped lead the Air Force women's basketball team to a 47-46 victory over Colorado State in the first game of the Mountain West Conference Championships at the Thomas & Mack Center. The win was Air Force's first-ever in eight years at the MWC Championships. The Falcons, down 46-45 in the last minute, missed three shots down the stretch that would have put them ahead, including a jumper by Pamela Findlay with five seconds left. However, Steele grabbed the offensive board on Findlay's miss and scored on the putback to give Air Force the one-point advantage with less than a second remaining. Air Force led for much of the opening half before CSU grabbed its first advantage with just over two and a half minutes remaining. Though a bucket from sophomore Kory Gladysz put the Falcons back on top, the Rams scored with just 37 seconds left in the half to take a 21-20 lead into the locker room. The Falcons opened the second half on an 8-0 run to regain the lead, and got out to a 33-24 advantage following a three-pointer from senior Letricia Castillo. However, a 7-0 run by Colorado State brought the Rams back within two points. While Air Force extended its lead to six points, CSU kept coming back, eventually taking the lead when a jumper by Emily Neal with just 50 seconds remaining gave the Rams a 46-45 advantage. Neither team shot particularly well in the game, with the Falcons knocking down 33 percent of their shots while the Rams hit just 32 percent from the field. Air Force struggled at the free throw line, connecting on 55.6 percent (10-of-18). Steele was the lone scorer in double figures for the Falcons, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds, for her eighth double-double of the season. Meanwhile, Castillo added eight points, three assists and three steals for Air Force. For the Rams, Sara Hunter recorded 17 points, while Marilyn Moulton notched a game-high 13 rebounds. Top-seeded BYU defeated ninth-seed Air Force, 72-40, in second-round action at the 2007 Mountain West Conference Women's Basketball Tournament on Wednesday, March 7, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The Cougars shot 50.9 percent from the field and dominated all aspects of the game. BYU out-rebounded Air Force 38-30 and had 20 assists to AFA's eight. Mallary Gillespie led BYU with 20 points and added five rebounds and five assists. Lauren Riley added 12 points. The Falcons were led by Alecia Steele's team high 12 points, five rebounds and three assists. Brooke Cultra and Pamela Findlay were the next leading scorers with seven points each. BYU jumped out to a 36-18 halftime lead and never looked back. Air Force shot 28.3 percent from the field and 25 percent from three-point range. Four Falcons seniors--Letricia Castillo, Dawn Higginbotham, Jacki Novak and Andrea Taylor--played their final college game.
