Women’s Hoops Falls to Fresno State, 77-70

USAF Academy, Colo. - Air Force came up short in a fourth quarter rally, falling to Fresno State, 77-70, Wednesday evening at Clune Arena, USAFA. The Falcons drop to 8-17 overall with a 4-10 mark in league play while the Bulldogs improve to 17-8, 10-4 MWC.

Air Force sophomores put forth solid efforts on the night, led by co-team captain Kaelin Immel who scored 22 points in her fourth 20-point-plus scoring performance this season. Immel, who has 16 double-digit scoring marks this season, also added three rebounds and a block to her stats line.

Classmate Emily Conroe, the Falcons' leading rebounder and second leading scorer in Mountain West play, recorded 17 points, eight rebounds, three assist, two steals and a block on the night. Conroe has 14 double-figure scoring performances this season and has been on the cusp of several double-double performances this season. The Fredericksburg, Virginia, native played for 35 minutes, shooting 70.0-percent from the field and 50.0-percent from deep.

Air Force's freshmen also continued to make consistent contributions, combining for 29 points, 15 boards and four steals.

Haley Jones, who recorded her first career double-double against San Jose State (Jan. 26), was just two rebounds shy of her second double-double. Jones dropped 10 points and collected eight rebounds on the night. Classmate Riley Snyder, who is showing signs of improvement from an ankle injury that occurred just under three weeks ago, scored eight points and picked off three steals. Snyder also added a pair of assists and three rebounds to her stat line.

Freshman guard Briana Autrey, who has started in every game since Jan. 19, scored 11 points while shooting 50.0-percent from the field. She tied a personal-best mark of five assists while only turning the ball over twice on the game. She added four rebounds and a steal to her stat line while also shooting perfect (2-2) from the free-throw line.

The Falcons had a solid defensive performance, holding the league's leading scorer, Candice White, to only two points in the first half and nine points on the game, tying her season low. It was only her second game this season that she didn't have double-figure scoring productivity. She averages 19 points per game this season.

Air Force also had its best night of the season in regards to ball management, turning the rock over only seven times as the Bulldogs' doubled-up with 14 turnovers.

Maddi Utti was the driving factor behind the Bulldogs' success as she registered 21 points. Utti knocked down an impressive 10-of-12 attempts from the field while collecting 11 rebounds and adding four assists and two blocks to her stat line in 37-minutes of action.

Fresno State out-rebounded Air Force, 35-29, 28 of which were on the defensive side of the ball. The Bulldogs also outshot the Falcons, 58.2-percent to 43.9-percent, respectively.

Up next, Air Force travels to San Jose, California, to take on the San Jose State Spartans, 2 p.m. PT, Saturday, Feb. 23, in the Event Center. The Falcons are looking to sweep the seasonal series after downing the Spartans, 88-77, January 26, at USAFA. San Jose State currently sits at 11th place in the league.

Quarter by Quarter Breakdown

First Quarter: FS 21, AF 17
Air Force starters: Haley Jones, Briana Autrey, Emily Conroe, Riley Snyder, Kaelin Immel
-AF shot 4-6 (66.7) in the first six attempts, highlighted by a three-ball from Snyder and two buckets from Immel, AF leads 9-7 (6:10)
-FS led the Falcons 15-13 in back-and-forth action at the first media timeout (3:27)
-Immel led the Falcons in the first quarter with six points while Emily Conroe led the squad with for rebounds
-AF shot 42.1 percent from the field, hitting one-of-two three ball attempts while FS shot 55.6 percent from the field

Second Quarter: FS 40, AF 37
-Both teams added five points to the tally in the first three-minutes of the quarter
-At the media timeout, AF hit 5-8 field goal attempts to come within two points, 31-29 (4:52), FS continued to shoot over 50.0 percent
-AF took the lead, 35-33, via a three-ball from Conroe (3:20)
-FS retook the lead with 6-0 run (2:48)
-The Falcons battled to a three-point deficit at the end of the first half, 40-37
-Emily Conroe (AF) and Maddi Utti (FS) led the game with 14 points apiece, Conroe had four rebounds while Utti had seven
-Candice White (FS), the leading scorer in the MWC (19 ppg), scored only two points in the first quarter and none in the second
-AF knocked down 8-of-17 (47.1) shots from the field in the second quarter, while FS hit 8-of-14 (57.1)
-AF's first half shooting from the field was 44.4 percent,

Third Quarter: FS 66, AF 52
-AF knotted up at 42 via a three-ball from Jones (8:20)
-FS opened the second half hitting four of their first four attempts, FS leads 48-44 (6:09)
-At the media timeout, FS shot 5-6 to build a five-point lead, 51-46 (4:39)
-Conroe and Immel had 14 points apiece at the media timeout, Utti and Gamez had 15 and 13, respectively
-FS extended to an 11-point lead, 58-47, while AF was on a 2:24 scoring drought heading into the second media timeout (2:15)
-Snyder drained her second three-ball out of the media timeout to bring AF within eight, but FS responded with a 5-0 run
-AF shot relatively well in the quarter (6-15 fg, 2-3 3fg) but was unable to match the Bulldogs who knocked down 10-of-12 attempts from the field
-FS turned on the three-ball, hitting 3-3 to outscore AF 26-15 in the quarter

Fourth Quarter: FS 77, AF 70
-FS went on a two-minute scoring drought to early in the quarter while AF added seven points
-AF outscored FS, 11-8, heading into the media timeout (4:47), but still trailed by 11 points, 74-63
-FS maintained a 10-point margin as the teams went back-and-forth in scoring, but eventually was slowed down by turnovers and missed shots, allowing AF to battle back within seven points, 77-70 (00:36), at the conclusion of the game
-FS shooting took a dive in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs hit only 4-of-11 shots from the field
-AF shooting was steady through the fourth as the Falcons hit 7-of-15 from the field, shooting over 40.0 percent in all quarters

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Team Stats

Kaelin Immel

Emily Conroe

AUTREY Briana

Haley Jones

Players Mentioned

Briana Autrey-Thompson

Emily Conroe

Kaelin Immel

Haley Jones

Riley Snyder

Players Mentioned

Briana Autrey-Thompson

Emily Conroe

Kaelin Immel

Haley Jones

Riley Snyder

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