‘Third time’s the charm’ for Air Force

LAS VEGAS — Of all things, it was a 1981 hit song that inspired the Air Force women’s team to earn its second-ever Mountain West Conference tournament win.

Shaking up the bracket, the ninth-seeded Falcons defeated fourth-seeded Colorado State 66-63 in the first game of the women’s MWC tournament on Tuesday. AFA senior guard Raimee Beck hit a 3-pointer with 1:24 left to put AFA up 65-63, and the Falcons came up with critical defensive stops on Colorado’s last six possessions to ensure their victory.

“Funny story,” Beck said. “…When we were coming out of the Hard Rock hotel today, Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ was playing. I think that’s our new song, ‘Don’t Stop Believing.’”

For now the dream continues, with the Falcons set to take on fifth-seeded Utah today at 6:30 Mountain time. Before Tuesday, the Falcons were 1-11 in the MWC tournament, their last win coming in 2007 against — guess who? — Colorado State.

AFA first-year head coach Andrea Williams said the win was phenomenal for the Falcons, given it was against an in-state rival.

“Our team was fired up and focused,” she said. “We put it all together at the right time, and it’s just one of those things we wanted to show what we could do for the year: Beat Colorado State this time. Third time’s the charm for us.”

Beck was also the Falcons’ lucky charm.
She stepped up defensively in the game’s waning seconds and had a key block on CSU’s Kim Mestdagh, whose 3-point attempt could’ve tied the game.

When it wasn’t Beck, the Rams — who played the conference season without a dominant post player — were beat up by AFA’s Alicia Leipprandt. Leipprandt had a game-high 26 points and was 10-of-26 from the field.

After starting the first 10 games of the season, Leipprandt was later benched for conference play, before returning to the starting lineup against UNM.

Williams said it was time to reinsert Leipprandt.
“I finally got a clue,” she said. “The civilians decided to go even smaller in the pots and put her at the four. “

Picked to finish eighth in the conference’s preseason poll, CSU ended the season in fourth place.

Rams head coach Kristen Holt said Air Force played scrappier.
“They took us out of our rhythm,” she said. “We really couldn’t get (one shot) in. I thought we did pretty good coming out in the second half, got some buckets, went ahead a few times, but I have to give them a lot of credit.”