Falcon sports: Weekend hoops, gymnastics wrap-up

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SAN ANTONIO (AFNEWS) --  The Air Force Academy's men's basketball team won its 26th straight home game, while the Lady Falcons fell to Utah and the gymnastics picked up two top-10 finishes.

Men's basketball
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The nationally ranked No. 13 Air Force men's team defeated San Diego State University 56-51 on Jan. 20 for their 26th straight victory at home.

For the complete story and a preview of the game Jan. 23 against Texas Christian University, visit the academy sports Web site at www.goairforcefalcons.com.

Women's basketball
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- Giving up a huge advantage at the foul line, the Air Force women's basketball team fell to Utah, 80-59, Jan. 20 at Huntsman Center. The Falcons drop to 4-13 overall, 0-6 in the Mountain West, while the Utes improve to 13-6, 6-0 in the league.

The Utes led early in the contest, getting out to a 12-6 lead, but Air Force battled back, with a three-pointer by sophomore Brooke Cultra (Onarga, Ill.) giving the Falcons an 18-16 advantage. However, Utah came right back with a three-pointer of their own to regain its lead.

Utah extended its advantage to four points at 26-22 before senior Andrea Taylor (Sugar Grove, Ill.) made a pair of free throws to bring Air Force back within two, but the Utes closed the half on a 14-0 run to take a 40-24 advantage into the locker room.

The Falcons couldn't get any closer than 14 points in the second half, as Utah shot more than 90 percent from the foul line in the game, connecting on 30-of-33 shots, including 19-of-20 in the final period.

Junior Alecia Steele (Oklahoma City, Okla.) finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season, while senior Letricia Castillo (Anchorage, Alaska) added 13 points. Sophomore Kim Kreke (Salem, Ill.) also scored in double figures with a career-high 10 points. Steele became the first player in the Falcons' Division I history to reach 500 rebounds, while Castillo became Air Force's first 1,000-point scorer at the Division I level.

The Falcons return home to wrap up the first half of the conference slate, hosting the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Jan. 25, at 7 p.m., followed by a 2 p.m. contest against Wyoming Jan. 27.

Gymnastics
NORMAN, Okla. -- Freshman Brennan Wolford (Thornville, Ohio) picked up a pair of top-10 event finishes, while junior Tyler Sickles (Burke, Va.) and sophomore Jacob Schonig (Los Gatos, Calif.) each earned one, as the Air Force men's gymnastics team finished third at the Sooner Triangular on Jan. 20 in Norman, Okla.

As a team, the Falcons scored a season-best 180.950 to take third at the tri-meet of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation teams. Top-ranked Oklahoma easily won the meet with a team total of 213.200, while No. 10 Nebraska placed second with a score of 203.300.

Wolford posted the Falcons' best individual event finish of the afternoon, scoring a career-high 8.550 on the floor exercise to finish seventh. He also picked up a ninth-place score on the vault with an 8.200. Competing in his first collegiate road meet, Wolford improved his personal-best scores in five of the six events, while improving three points in the all-around to finish second with a total of 44.350.

Sickles garnered a ninth-place finish on the high bar after posting a score of 8.100, while Schonig placed 10th on the still rings with a score of 8.050.

Junior Brian Boardman (Naperville, Ill.) finished 11th on the parallel bars with a team-best score of 8.000, while freshman Garrett Canter (Tallahassee, Fla.) picked up the team's top finish on the pommel horse, scoring a 7.300.

Boardman also captured the team's second-best marks during the floor exercise (8.500), pommel horse (6.650) and vault (7.950), while Canter posted the Falcons' second highest score on the still rings (7.900) and tied with junior Kevin Murphy (The Woodlands, Texas) for the second-best high bar total (7.500) of the team.

Senior Kurt Antonio (Rio Rancho, N.M.), who finished third in the all-around with a score of 42.700, recorded the team's second-best score of the afternoon on the parallel bars at 7.650.

The Falcons are off from competition for a week, preparing for the first of two showdowns with service academy rival Army on Feb. 3. The dual meet, which is the final home meet of the season for Air Force, is slated to begin at 7 p.m. at the Cadet West Gym.

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