Late surge wills women’s basketball past Regis

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The Air Force women's basketball team, facing off against an experienced and talented Regis squad, went toe-to-toe with the Rangers though three quarters before outpacing its opponent in the late stages of the game on the way to a 78-68 win on Tuesday evening in Clune Arena.

Four Falcons scored in double digits, with Smith leading Air Force scorers at 18-points and 11 rebounds; Perry added 16, going 6-7 from the line; McNabb set an early career-best, earning 15 points on 6-10 from the field and adding eight boards and four steals; Keelie O'Hollaren earned 12, downing two three-pointers on the evening, one proving key to the Falcons' late advance.

It was a 26-point fourth quarter – The Falcons' highest to this point in the season – from a healthy mix of old and new players alike which proved the final difference in Tuesday's outing. With the game tied at 52-all with nine minutes to go in the final frame, sophomore Milahnie Perry's seven points led all fourth-quarter scoring behind a 5-5 showing at the free throw line, accounting for the bulk of an 8-9 (.889) Falcon finish from the stripe. Freshman Alexis Cortez had six in the final quarter, with junior Madison Smith adding five.

Regis, the 2022-23 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champions, led after the first quarter and trailed Air Force by just a single possession and the end of the third, with Air Force's seven-point lead at the 7:13 mark in the third being the largest held at any point through the contest until the final minutes of regulation.

Head Coach Chris Gobrecht's early thoughts on Tuesday's win:
"First, I want to make sure that Regis gets their due credit; That's a good team – They're a very efficient and mature unit. They've been playing together for a long time; they're all either seniors or postgrads and they'll make you pay if you make a mistake. They know exactly what they want, and they work until they get it – and you virtually have to take away everything, or they'll find exactly what they want and make you pay over and over."

Coach G on improving defensively:
"We tended to play for the steal a lot tonight which served us very well on that last spurt; but we have got to know when to be smart. We have a lot of young kids, and they still have a lot to learn, particularly about defense. I think we've always known we can score the ball, and we just have to get better defensively and not get beat going to the rim and understand how to show, and to play better team defense and things like that."

On the Falcon's late push:
"I think that we work hard to get to the point where we are the better team in the fourth quarter and that's where the game was won for us tonight. I thought that there was a little bit of fatigue that set in for us – I thought Milahnie played a lot of minutes and played really well; Madison did her Madison thing, and I thought our freshmen played great too."

On the freshmen's performances tonight:
"I thought Alexis (Cortez) played great, Jayda (McNabb) did her thing tonight and Keelie (O'Hollaren) came in and gave us some big buckets at a key moment in the game. I do believe our freshmen played beyond their years tonight, and that's going to be important moving ahead, because we need them so much.

"(Keelie) just has an incredible nose for the ball and she's very quick. It's hard for defenders to track her – they lose her very easily."

Up Next:
Air Force women's basketball (2-1, 0-0 MW) remains at home for its Alumni Weekend, hosting Army on Friday in Clune Arena at 7 p.m.

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