Cowgirls Drop Tough One at Air Force, 57-47
An 11-0 run by Air Force in the fourth quarter keyed the Falcons to a 57-47 upset of the short-handed Wyoming Cowgirls Tuesday night.
Wyoming (20-8, 13-4) saw their six-game win streak snapped. They played the game without senior Liv Roberts, who was out due to illness. It marked the first defeat to the Falcons since an overtime loss, 69-66, Feb. 5, 2005.
The loss also damaged the Cowgirls chances to win a conference title, but UW got some help from Nevada. The Wolfpack knocked off UNLV in Reno, 75-55. Combined with Boise State’s home victory over San Diego State, 64-53, the Cowgirls, Rebels and the Broncos are now in a three-way tie for the Mountain West lead with one game to play.
Wyoming will face Boise State in Laramie Friday night, while UNLV will host Utah State.
Air Force (4-24, 4-13) shot just 41 percent for the game. The difference was 50 percent in the second half. Kaelin Immel led the Falcons with 19 points. Emily Conroe added 13 and Cortney Porter had 11 points. Air Force also had only nine turnovers in the game compared to 13 by UW.
Wyoming shot 39 percent from the field. That included just 33 percent in the fourth quarter. Clara Tapia and Taylor Rusk led the way with 10 points each.
It was a low-scoring first half. The game was tied 6-6 after the first. The Falcons had a slim 19-18 lead at half, with neither team leading by more than four points.
A three-pointer by Venessannah Itugbu at the third quarter buzzer kept Air Force in front by one, 35-34, after three. A Marta Gomez lay-up gave the Cowgirls a brief 36-35 lead, but the Falcons rattled off 11 straight and opened up a 46-36 advantage.
Wyoming climbed back within four on a Rusk jumper with 1:24 left, but Air Force went 8-8 at the free throw line in the last 49 seconds to seal the victory.
The Cowgirls will play Boise State on Senior Night Friday at 6:30 p.m.