WBB Preview: Utah State Opens MWC Play At Home Against Air Force

Last year’s 18-15 Air Force team laid a solid foundation, and this year’s team, with plenty of continuity, is taking advantage. The Falcons of 2024-25 notched their first winning season in three years and earned an invitation to the WNIT, where they lost to Utah Valley.

The Academy’s quartet of top contributors are all returners from last year’s squad: Milahnie Perry, Jordyn DeVaughn, Jayda McNabb and Keelie O’Hollaren. Perry, the most reliable bucket getter of the group, was selected to the preseason all-Mountain West team. The Falcons are up to 6-4 on the year and are on a three-game win streak in which they exacted revenge on UVU, toppled Wright State on a neutral floor, and escaped disaster in a one-point victory over New Mexico Highlands.

The Aggies came up short against Air Force three times last season, and each one was a heartbreaker. The first time the teams met in Clune Arena, Utah State lost 78-66, doomed in part by a six-point third quarter that gave the Falcons a 54-37 lead and just 10 minutes to hold on to it. Their second game in Logan was even closer and ended with a final score of 82-77 in favor of the Falcons.

After the regular season sweep, the Aggies had the chance to avenge themselves when they drew Air Force as their first-round matchup in the Mountain West tournament. After another hard-fought game, the Aggies came up seven points short and lost a third heartbreaker, 66-59. After three tries, the Aggies were 0-3 with just an eight-point average differential. The talent was seemingly sufficient, or at least close to it, but the Aggies ran short on an ability to close out games and find ways to win tight races.

If the talent was there last year, it's certainly here this year, and the thing they lacked already looks to be a much-improved area. The new-look Aggies have more options on both ends of the floor, and things are starting to fall into place as the team’s top contributors continue to mesh.

This is especially evident in Aaliyah Gayles, who is coming off an 18-point, nine-rebound game in a win over Idaho. She has now led the team in scoring on four occasions this season, including the last two games and three of the last four. She also led the team in rebounding in the past two games and in assists, with four, against San Diego. In those four games, which include a game at Oregon, she is averaging 15.3 points, five rebounds, 1.8 assists and half a block. With a pair of steals in each of the four outings, she is averaging two steals. Her season averages are up to 14.3 points, four rebounds and 1.4 assists per game, plus 1.9 steals. 

Her nine rebounds are a season high, and in that four-game stretch, she notched a new season high in points and assists (both against San Diego) and now rebounds. She didn’t pick up a single foul in her 28 minutes of action, her second time doing so in four games. She struggled with foul trouble early in the year, picking up three, four, then five fouls in her first three games, but has cleaned up since then and has picked up just seven fouls in her five games since. Her perfect trip to the line was her third this year and second in four games. In her past four, she has hit 22 of 26. 

Five of Utah State’s nine games this season have been decided by single digits and Utah State is 3-2 in those games. Two of three games between these teams last year were also decided by single digits, including the last two times these teams met when the deficit was fewer than seven points. All three times they met last year, the game was decided by fewer than 12.

Especially against the Falcons, Utah State is becoming accustomed to close games. The Aggies, who were picked to finish 11th in the Mountain West, shouldn’t expect anything else. Winning isn’t easy, and the Aggies will need to flip last year’s script and win close games if they want to win at all. Fortunately, they've shown early signs of improvement there, but the conference opener against Air Force will be a valuable test.

Players To Know

Jayda McNabb: All four of Air Force’s key returners are players worth keeping an eye on, but the matchups around the junior forward might be the most intriguing.

On paper, Utah State will have the size advantage against the Falcons. Emily Adams is the only six-footer getting significant playing time. But when it comes to playing bigger than your size, there are few as proficient as McNabb. The junior makes the most of her 5-10 frame and is averaging 8.9 boards and a block a game with a 51.6 field goal percentage. The former all-freshman team player didn’t miss a beat as a sophomore and hasn’t missed a beat yet in her junior campaign. 

She just continues to improve and is averaging 8.3 points, up from last year’s 7.9, which was up from the year before’s 6.0. She is also averaging 2.4 assists and 2.5 steals, and can hit threes at a 35.7 percent clip.

Milahnie Perry: Perry entered this 2025-26 season, her senior year, already established as one of the best players in Air Force program history. A 5-7 product of Tampa, the guard broke onto the scene as a true freshman in 2022-23 and has not looked back since.

Then, she was Air Force's first player off the bench, averaging 7.1 points and 1.8 rebounds per game to earn Mountain West all-freshman honors. Perry built on that with a spectacular sophomore season, earning a spot in the starting lineup and putting it to great use with 16.7 points, 2.6 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals per contest to garner a spot on the all-MWC first team. Last year marked a bit of a step back for Perry, who drew only an honorable mention in the league, but her regression is relative: She still averaged 15.7 points, 2.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game while shooting a career-best 41.8 percent from the field.

Through nine games this time around, Perry has been every bit as good as advertised. She's averaging 17.6 points per game, nearly double Air Force's next-leading scorer (DeVaughn, 9.0 PPG), while shooting 40.7 percent from the field and a hair under 70 percent from the stripe on nearly six attempts per game. Her numbers on the floor are as strong as ever, chipping in 3.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.8 steals in about 32 minutes per contest.

She's already hit the 20-point mark three times against Portland State (20), Florida Atlantic (27) and Utah Valley (24) and will look to maintain strong career numbers against the Aggies. In seven matchups with Utah State, Perry is averaging 15.6 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 0.9 steals, surpassing the 20-point line three times.