Air Force Falcons’ Furious Late Run Unable to Overcome Wyoming

The Air Force Falcons women’s basketball team went on a huge scoring run late but they still fell well short of Wyoming.

Nov 20, 2013; Colorado Springs, CO, USA; A general view of the Air Force Falcons logo at Clune Arena before the start of the game against the Colorado Christian Cougars. / Isaiah Downing-Imagn Images

The Air Force Falcons women’s basketball team scored the final 11 points of their game with Wyoming on Wednesday, but it still left the Falcons short, 62-50, at Clune Arena.

That Falcons run lasted the final 3:54 of the game. But, before the run started Air Force (11-8, 1-6 in Mountain West) was already down more than 20 points. Wyoming (11-8. 5-2) turned the ball over four times in the final 4:07 of the game.

It just wasn’t enough for Air Force to claim its second straight win.

Wyoming had an incredible game, as it shot 64% from the floor and 71% from the 3-point line. Thanks to that, Wyoming only needed to shoot four free throws in the game and made three.

In a normal game, Air Force could have hung in there with its shooting clip of 40% from the field, 43% from the floor and 50% from the free-throw line. Why? Because Wyoming’s shooting offset 22 turnovers, off which Air Force scored 18 points.

Wyoming led after the first quarter, 13-10. From there, Wyoming outscored Air Force 35-18 in the second and third quarters to build an insurmountable 48-28 lead going into the fourth quarter.

The Falcons’ Milahnie Perry led the way with 16 points, including both of her 3-point attempts. Jayda McNabb added 10 points, along with three rebounds, three assists, two blocked shots and one steal.

Jo Huntimer led Air Force with five assists but only scored three points.

Malene Pedersen led Wyoming with 16 points. While she didn’t attempt a 3-pointer, she was 7-of-8 from the floor and had four assists and one steal. Allyson Fertig scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting with nine rebounds and five blocked shots. Emily Mellema added 13 points with three rebounds.

The Falcons are a long way from their incredible start to the season, where they began 10-2 and marked the program’s first 10-win non-conference in the Division I era and the first time since 1991-92.

Air Force started 9-1, with its only loss an overtime game against Army West Point. The Falcons’ 10-game start was its best since the 1982-83 team, which went 12-1. Air Force started the season 6-0 at Clune Arena for the first time since 1985-86.

The Falcons head to Reno, Nev., to face Nevada on Saturday at 2 p.m. mountain.