Little tangible evidence suggests a run might be in the works for the Air Force women’s basketball team in the Mountain West Tournament.

But this is the time of year for intangibles to work their magic, and that’s the hope this veteran group of Falcons is banking on as they begin action Saturday as the No. 9 seed facing No. 8 Wyoming at 1 p.m. in Las Vegas.

“I think it definitely gives us a little bit of an edge,” senior forward Emily Adams said. “We’ve been in that situation before. We’ve been in the tournament.

“We’ve been playing together for so long.”

Air Force (13-17) is in the enviable position of having two seniors carrying the scoring load of late. Of course there’s Milahnie Perry, who broke the program’s all-time scoring record in the regular-season finale, leading the way with a Mountain West-best 17.1 points per game.

Adams has also willed herself into a scorer of late, averaging 12.8 points over her last 13 games.

Experience is found throughout the roster.

Junior Jayda McNabb ranks fifth in the program’s NCAA Division I history (since 1996-97) with 651 rebounds. She leads the Mountain West and ranks 10^th nationally in offensive rebounding (4.1 per game). McNabb is also second in the conference with 2.24 steals per game.

Junior Alexis Cortez has 84 career games under her belt and a reputation as the team’s lockdown defender. Junior Keelie O’Hollaren’s 167 3-pointers are fourth best in program history. Junior Jordyn DeVaughn has reached double figures in scoring in 15 of her 88 career games, including 16 in a late-February victory over Wyoming.

The only thing is, this has been the roster all season — minus some missing time from various players on occasion — and the results haven’t been stellar from a group that played in the WNIT last season.

The Falcons have just one victory over a team that finished with a winning record in the Mountain West (a 65-54 home win over Grand Canyon) and finished with four losses over their final five games.

Wyoming (10-19) owns a commanding 64-5 all-time series lead over Air Force, but one of those Falcons’ victories came less than two weeks ago.

“I see all the work we put in,” said Perry, explaining why she still believes a run is possible. “I see everyone’s strengths and what we’re good at. And just playing each team in this conference twice, I know what they’re good at, so it comes down to who wants it more, and I feel like we’ll go into that tournament wanting it.”

NEW STANDARD

Air Force women’s basketball — which has had nine seasons with zero conference victories and eight more with one win — continues to distance itself from its past struggles.

Here are the best NCAA Division-I conference seasons for the program in 30 years at that level.

.611 (11-7)       2021-22

.444 (8-10)       2022-23

.444 (8-10)       2023-24

.389 (7-11)       2019-20

.389 (7-11)       2024-25

.350 (7-13)       2025-26

.278 (5-13)       2017-18