Air Force Academy

Jan. 23, 2007

The Air Force women's basketball team wraps up the first half of its conference slate at home this week, hosting UNLV and Wyoming. The Falcons will take on the Lady Rebels Thursday evening at 7:00 p.m., and will play the Cowgirls at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day...
The Falcons will celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Saturday against Wyoming. Air Force will offer a free sports clinic to girls in eighth grade or under. Attendants of the clinic will receive free admission to the Air Force-Wyoming game.

Registration for the clinic begins at 11:30 a.m. in Cadet East Gym.

Scouting the Falcons...
Air Force dropped to 4-13 overall and 0-6 in the Mountain West Conference with a pair of road losses to New Mexico and Utah last week.

Junior Alecia Steele leads the Falcons with 12.1 points and 8.4 rebounds per contest. Pamela Findlay is also averaging in double figures with 11.2 points per game, while she has a team-high 39 assists and 25 steals.

Scouting the Lady Rebels...
UNLV enters this week with an 8-9 overall record and 2-3 mark in the MWC, falling at home to Utah and on the road to BYU last week.

Sequoia Holmes leads the Lady Rebels with 13.8 points per game and has a team-best 45 steals. Shamela Hampton adds 12.2 points per contest, while Faye Muller is the team's leading rebounder with 10.4 boards per game. Meanwhile, Brittany Halberg has dished out a team-best 55 assists on the season.

Scouting the Cowgirls...
Wyoming currently has a 12-5 overall record and 3-2 ledger in the Mountain West Conference and will visit Colorado State before facing the Falcons this weekend.

Junior college transfer Justyna Podziemska leads the Cowgirls, recording 14.9 points and 7.1 rebounds per game, while also dishing out a team-high 58 assists. Hanna Zavecz adds 14.4 points per game and leads the team with 27 steals and 19 blocks. Also averaging in double figures scoring are Jodi Bolerjack (10.9 ppg) and Megan McGuffey (10.2 ppg).

First to 1,000...
Senior Letricia Castillo became the Falcons' first 1,000-point scorer at the Division I level last week, when she finished with 13 points against Utah. Castillo now has 1,008 points in her career.

First to 500...
Junior Alecia Steele also reached a milestone in the game at Utah last week, becoming the first Air Force Division I player to reach 500 rebounds for her career. She currently ranks ninth among all Falcons in the record books with 502 and leads all active players in the Mountain West Conference in career rebounds.

More Double-Doubles...
At Utah, junior Alecia Steele notched her sixth double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Steele's first double-double of the season came in the Falcons' season-opener, when she recorded 12 points and 10 rebounds against Wisconsin. She then followed that performance up with a double-double against Northern Colorado, finishing with a then-career-high 22 points, while adding 11 rebounds. Steele also notched a double-double in the championship game of the Air Force Classic, notching 19 points and 13 rebounds. Steele posted a double-double of 26 points and 13 rebounds in the Falcons' come-from-behind victory over Weber State and another double-double against BYU, notching 16 points and a career-best 14 rebounds.

Steele now has 13 double-doubles in her career, more than any other player in Air Force history. Elycia Hall ranks second among the Falcons' Division I players, getting four double-doubles from 1996-98.

Steele's total of 13 career double-doubles also ranks first in the Mountain West Conference among active players. Ranking second is TCU's Lorie Butler-Rayford with eight.

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