Rough second half leads to end of Air Force women's season

LAS VEGAS • All of a sudden, after playing well for 60 minutes at the Mountain West Conference Tournament, Air Force’s women’s basketball team couldn’t score.

Utah didn’t make major changes to its defense at halftime Wednesday. Air Force just couldn’t hit any shots.

The Falcons were tied at halftime but scored just two points in the first 11:58 of the second half, as Utah built a 16-point lead. Air Force, which beat Colorado State in the first round of the tournament Tuesday, was eliminated with its 70-55 loss at the Thomas and Mack Center.

“When we go on a drought, it can be ugly,” Air Force coach Andrea Williams said. “And we’ve been on droughts before.”

The Falcons finish the season 9-22.

Alicia Leipprandt was Air Force’s top scorer in its first-round win against the Rams, but senior guard Raimee Beck took charge early against Utah. Beck had 10 of Air Force’s first 19 points, and twice hit a 3-pointer to tie the game. Kelsey Berger hit a pair of 3-pointers later in the first half and the game was tied 29-29 at halftime.

Nothing went right to start the second half. Perhaps Leipprandt was a bit tired after scoring 26 points on Tuesday. And Dymond James didn’t have a lot of room to work against the bigger Utes forwards.

Whatever it was, Air Force’s offense was bogged down, not scoring its second basket of the second half until 9:02 remained. Utah led by as many as 18 points in the second half.

Air Force didn’t have any answers for Utah’s size advantage. The Utes would miss a shot, but grab the offensive rebound and put it back for some easy points. Utah had 36 points in the paint, grabbed an offensive rebound on 16 of its 32 missed shots and had 22 second-chance points.

“The rebounds really killed us, and we couldn’t score,” said point guard Megan Muniz, who led the Falcons with 13 points.

Air Force tried to rally late, and cut Utah’s lead to nine points with 32 seconds left, but couldn’t get any closer.

Despite the loss, Air Force can feel good about its progress in Williams’ first season. Beck is the only senior, so the rest of the team can build on its success from the season. And the Falcons can also be pleased about sending Beck out with a win in her final trip to the conference tournament.

“It was a great experience,” Beck said. “Getting that first win was a great way to end my year, my career, and I’m thankful for that.”