Falcons Claim Season Sweep of San Jose State

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – It was the underclassmen who showed out on Monday night for the Air Force women's basketball team, as the Falcons defeated San Jose State, 77-70.

Reigning Mountain West Freshman of the Week Milahnie Perry led Air Force in scoring for the third-straight game, posting 21 points on 8-14 from the field. Sophomore Jo Huntimer followed up with a career-high 16 points on 5-8 and 5-6 from the free-throw line.

Hunitmer's first assist of the evening – an inside find to junior Kayla Pilson for the Falcons' second basket of the game – awarded the sophomore with her 84^th assist of the year, and a career total of 206, good for seventh in total assists in the program's Division I era.

Air Force (9-10, 4-3 MW) managed an early lead that would be held until nearly five minutes into the second quarter behind a balanced scoring effort from the likes of Perry, Huntimer, Pilson, and freshman Faith Shelton. Shelton logged seven first-half points on the way to a nine-point evening – a career high for the newcomer.

11 points from Perry in the second quarter stifled a pair of scoring runs for San Jose (2-16, 0-7 MW), notching her second double-digit quarter of the season. The Falcons took off on a 9-0 run to close the half behind five points from Perry, bringing the tally to 39-30.

Coming out of the break, sophomore Madison Smith finished on a pair of baskets up from the right wing to force a 13-point lead. The Falcons outscored San Jose 8-2 in the early half of the third quarter, before the Spartans managed to get into enough of a rhythm to begin chipping away at Air Force's lead. SJSU opened on a 9-2 scoring barrage which brought the tally back to single digits, before a Pilson three-pointer, coupled with a successful and-one opportunity from Huntimer pushed the lead back to 14.

At 63-51 to open the fourth quarter, a three-minute scoring drought for both teams was broken up by a Sabrina Ma three-pointer to bring San Jose back within nine, before a Nikki McDonald steal on an inbounds pass and successful layup answered in kind. Another run for San Jose behind a pair of inside baskets by Nailea Nicholas and Aarion Nichols found the Spartans down five with four minutes remaining.

Down the stretch, Perry proved critical to the Falcons sealing the victory, as she hit a three-pointer from the top of the arch to extend the Air Force lead back out to 68-60, followed by a jumper from inside the key and a crucial block on San Jose's Jada Holland in transition.

With 17 seconds remaining in regulation and SJSU down by 11, Ma knocked down another three, immediately followed by a Jasmine Singleton steal on the inbounds pass from Huntimer to lay it up and cut the Falcons' lead in half in a matter of seconds – But the clock hit zero before any SJSU momentum could pay off.

Air Force is back on the road to play at Utah State on Thursday at 6:00 p.m.

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Team Stats

Milahnie Perry

Jo Huntimer

Kayla Pilson

Kamri Heath

Players Mentioned

Jo Huntimer

Nikki McDonald

Milahnie Perry

Kayla Pilson

Faith Shelton

Madison Smith

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