Team defense got them the ball, ball movement got them the 3s, 3s got them a program-defining win a little more than 24 hours after the last. Team-wide resolve on both ends lifted the No. 9 Air Force Falcons to their first-ever conference title game.
After a shock upset of No. 1 seed and defending champion San Diego State in Sunday’s quarterfinal of the 2026 Credit Union 1 Mountain West Women’s Basketball Championship, Air Force used big first and fourth quarters to overcome No. 5 Boise State, 68-66.
Just two years into Stacy McIntyre’s tenure at the helm at Air Force, she said she’s in “disbelief” with what has transpired over the past three days in Las Vegas.
“What I’m most proud of is we had a great game plan, we executed that game plan and just stayed poised down the stretch,” McIntyre said. “For a team that’s not been here and not been in a game like that in the Mountain West Conference Tournament just says a lot about the fight out of this team and especially with these young ladies.”
The Broncos quelled a quick Falcon start and had a lead entering the fourth quarter, but Milahnie Perry caught fire in the second half and made huge plays in a final frame where Air Force outscored BSU, 21-16.
She finished with 27 points, including clutch free throws to push it to a two-possession game with less than 30 seconds left. Boise State got within a point before the buzzer, but couldn’t tie or take the lead.
Add that to a 33-point performance against SDSU, and she became just the second player in MW history to record multiple 25-point games in a single tournament. Her 78 points in three games tied a tournament record.
And for the first time in the Falcons’ history, there’s still basketball to play this late in the competition.
“Can’t even put it into words. We’re ecstatic. We felt like we had something to prove,” Perry said. “I felt like a lot of teams didn’t respect us, and that was a problem for us. I’m glad that we showed why you should respect us.”
Defensively, the Falcons were content with allowing Libby Hutton to tie her career-high of 25 points, so long as the other Bronco scorers kept quiet. With a swarming, connected defense, Air Force kept the high-scoring trio of Tatum Thompson, Dani Bayes and Natalie Pasco (who average a combined 39.5 points per game) to 23 points combined.
“When you get to tournament play, I mean, you have a couple of hours to prepare,” McIntyre said. “It says a lot that you have two seniors and a lot of juniors on the floor that they can, you know, take instruction and then follow that game plan when they’re in the game.”
