In the first game of the Falcons basketball doubleheader today, the Air Force women’s team picked up what might be a nice springboard win in coach Andrea Williams’ first season.

Colgate led by 21 in the first half, Williams benched all of her starters, and the Falcons trailed by 10 with a little more than four minutes left. But over the last 4:07, Air Force outscored Colgate 11-1 to force overtime, then won 80-75 in overtime.

“That’s how a team grows,” Williams said. “If you’ve been down 10 or 15 in the past, you can fold up and go home, call it a day. Nope – they responded well, they wanted to fight.”

For such a young team, battling back from adversity to win is a great sign moving forward.

“This was a litmus test for our guts,” Williams joked.

Raimee Beck, Air Force’s senior guard and best player, was one of the starters who was benched, but she bounced back to score 22 points with 10 rebounds.

Going into the Mountain West opener on Wednesday at Utah, the Falcons already have five wins, which is more than all of last season. Williams installed a brand-new system on offense and defense – the full-court pressure defense is one reason Air Force was able to come back to beat Colgate – and has a young team. Williams said she is happy with the progress of her squad.

“We’ve done some things,” Williams said. “You’re trying to change the culture and making them believe they can win when games are on the line.”

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