Rallies fall short as women’s basketball falls 74-68 to Fresno State

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – The first quarter proved costly on Wednesday night against Fresno State for the Air Force women's basketball team, as the Falcons fell into an early hole against the Bulldogs. Despite Falcon advances in the third and fourth quarters to bring the contest back into a single possession affair, Air Force never found a lead, falling 74-68 in Clune Arena.

Four Falcons scored in double digits, led by sophomore Milahnie Perry scoring a game-high 19 points (9-22 FG). Madison Smith closed with 16 and Alexis Cortez/Jayda McNabb each contributed ten, with Cortez going 4-7 (.571) from the field and McNabb tacking on six rebounds, six assists (career high) and five steals (ties career high).

The Falcons (12-14, 5-8 MW) found themselves behind early on in the contest, as Fresno State (12-14, 5-8 MW) went up 5-0 in the first 70 seconds and then closed the first quarter on an 11-4 scoring advantage. Air Force, settling into the second quarter, managed to weather a 65 percent shooting first half from the Bulldogs and a 4-4 start from three to keep Fresno within comeback range (the Bulldogs never got beyond a 12-point advantage for the length of the game), trailing 40-29 at half.

Outscoring the Bulldogs 7-2 in the early minutes of the second half behind scoring from Perry, Smith and senior Dasha Macmillan (4 pts, 1 reb) allowed the Falcons to cut Fresno State's lead back to four with five minutes remaining in the quarter. At the under-five media timeout, despite trailing, the Falcons led Fresno State in points off turnovers (10), points in the paint (26), second-chance points (13) and points off of fast breaks (seven). An 8-3 Fresno run to finish the quarter had the Falcons back down 60-48.

A 5-2 Falcon advantage to open the final quarter paired with a 9-2 run starting near the five-minute mark with the Falcons shooting 4-5 down that stretch cut Fresno's lead to a possession with two and a half minutes remaining, before Fresno's Tamiya Strickland landed a well-guarded three-pointer in the right corner to leave Air Force behind 67-61 and leave the Falcons down by two possessions as the game entered foul territory. Fresno State, going 21-22 from the free throw line and holding perfect until 15 seconds left in regulation, managed to hold the Falcons at bay down the waning seconds.

Up Next:
Air Force women's basketball heads to Las Vegas, taking on RV/RV UNLV on Saturday night at 6 p.m. MT.

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