Falcons chase of Cowgirls falls short in loss

LARAMIE, Wyo.- In spite of tying the ballgame late on multiple occasions, Air Force was unable to find a key go-ahead bucket in Saturday's 57-54 loss at Wyoming.

Cierra Winters led the Falcons with 14 points, while the chunk of her scoring came from the free throw line, where she was 8-12. Lauren McDonald and Haley Jones each managed 10 points, though the Arena-Auditorium was unkind to the Falcons offense as a whole.

Air Force finished the afternoon 15-56 from the field (26.6%), and 3-11 from behind the arc. The Falcons shot 33% in the third quarter, the lone period in which the visitors field goal percentage was above 30%.

As has become a pattern, Chris Gobrecht's team overwhelmed the Cowgirls on the defensive side of the floor, forcing 26 turnovers while creating 14 steals. However, the Falcons were severely out-rebounded 47-26. The Falcons scored the first basket of the game to go up 2-0, though Air Force was never able to recapture a lead after the game's first two minutes.

The Cowgirls lead stretched to as much as 12 early in the third quarter, though the Falcons seemed to settle in a touch after a shaky first-half. Air Force closed the quarter on a 17-7 run to trim the Wyoming lead to 41-39 with 10 minutes remaining.

Air Force managed to tie the game three times over the course of the fourth quarter, most dramatically with seconds remaining. Trailing 54-51 with 15 seconds left, Lauren McDonald saw her initial three-point try bounce off of the rim, which just so happened to be rebounded by her big sister Nikki. The elder McDonald found her younger sister drifting off of her initial spot for another long range attempt, which Lauren buried to tie the game at 54-54 with just under 10 seconds left.

However, on the following possession, an acrobatic Wyoming layup found its way through to give the home side a 56-54 lead with 2.7 seconds remaining. Air Force called a timeout to advance to the ball up the floor, though the inbounds pass from Lauren McDonald sailed over Riley Snyder's head, giving the Cowgirls possession. Forced to foul, the Falcons regained control of the basketball with just 0.3 seconds left, where a last-ditch effort to get a shot off would not come to fruition.

Next, the Falcons return home for a matchup with the Fresno State Bulldogs on Wednesday, January 19. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 pm MT.

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