Women’s basketball falls in second half to Wyoming

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – After earning a lead and just trailing in the opening two quarters of the Air Force women's basketball team's contest against Wyoming, Air Force found itself at odds with Wyoming's relative size and experience, as the Falcons fell to the Cowgirls 68-51 on Saturday afternoon in Clune Arena.

Sophomore Milahnie Perry and freshman Jayda McNabb both finished the day leading Air Force with ten points apiece. Perry shot 5-10 from the field, while McNabb went 3-5 from three-point range and 1-2 from the free throw line. Senior Taylor Britt and freshman Keelie O'Hollaren both followed up with eight points, both going 2-2 from three. The Falcons' performance from beyond the arc on Saturday was a season-best, going 7-14 (.500) as a team from distance.

Air Force, a team which has built its success around creating turnovers and scoring in transition, found itself up against a Wyoming squad which kept the takeaway game fairly even with the Falcons, as Air Force only managed to force 11 turnovers to the Cowgirls' 12 – The Falcons' lowest turnover figure of the season so far. Wyoming's 29-49 (.617) from the field is the highest field goal percentage Air Force has faced this year, despite also facing one of the lowest number of shots from an opponent to this point.

The game opened in dramatic fashion, as Air Force went 8-11 (.727) from the field compared to Wyoming's 6-9 (.667), as the lead exchanged hands four times. Air Force ended the quarter ahead 19-15, while holding the Cowgirls' 6'4 center Allyson Fertig scoreless. McNabb opened the game 2-3 from three, while Britt went 2-2 from the field and added a three-pointer of her own. Senior Dasha Macmillan escaped the Wyoming post defense on back-to-back possessions,

The Falcons outscored Wyoming 9-1 down the final minutes of the first, including points from Madison Smith, Perry, McNabb, and a pair of back door cuts for senior Dasha Macmillan on back-to-back plays, pushing Air Force out to a six-point lead before Wyoming's Emily Mellema added a layup just before the first quarter buzzer, leaving the Falcons with a 19-15 lead.

Air Force scoring cooled off in the second and Wyoming's Fertig began to factor in for the Cowgirls, as she scored six of the Cowgirls' next eight points to tie and eventually reclaim the lead for Wyoming. Fertig's ten-point second quarter showing led to Air Force being outscored 21-11 in the period, leaving the Falcons down six at halftime.

Coming out of the locker room, Air Force fell into a slump, going 0-4 to start the half and allowing Wyoming on an 8-0 run and outscore the Falcons 15-3 with four different Cowgirls involved in the streak, leaving the Falcons with a 16-point deficit to cover at the 4:04 mark in the third – a gap which proved too wide for Air Force to cover through the remainder of the contest.

Up Next:
Air Force women's basketball returns to the road, as the Falcons head back west to face Nevada on Jan. 10 at 7:30 p.m. MT in Reno.

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