LAS VEGAS – A seemingly perfect day for the Air Force women came to a halt.

The Falcons’ time in the Mountain West tournament did not.

The ninth-seeded Falcons did enough Saturday through three ideal quarters to outlast No. 8 Wyoming 60-53 despite a fourth quarter that brought all kinds of difficulties to advance to Sunday’s quarterfinals at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Air Force had beaten Wyoming just four times in 68 meetings over the course of 47 years, but now it has beaten the Cowgirls twice in 11 days.

“It was a real coming-out moment,” said senior Emily Adams, who scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half and added nine rebounds. “I think we’ve been waiting on this game for a long time, and it really all came together.”

The Falcons led by 11 after three quarters in which they shot 43% and led 15-5 in forced turnovers. They were shooting well above their season average (35.3%), had avoided foul trouble and were on the verge of easily avenging a loss to Wyoming in last year’s quarterfinals.

Then came the fourth quarter.

Air Force missed its first four shots. Made one. Then missed four more. Wyoming, meanwhile, made four of its first seven. Keelie O’Hollaren was whistled for a technical after slamming the ball in frustration, and Wyoming’s Malene Pedersen responded with four consecutive free throws.

Suddenly the advantage was down to three in the closing minutes.

“I think it’s just keeping your poise, knowing that you are the better team and trusting in that,” said Milahnie Perry, Air Force’s all-time leading scorer who scored 18 points with six rebounds and five assists on Saturday. “Not letting what happened get to you and fluster you and just keep playing and doing the things that were getting you the win.”

Freshman Bhret Clay hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead back to six. Alexis Cortez drove with 45 seconds for a shot to push it to eight and the tense moments gave way to celebration.

“We’ve had a lot of close games this year,” coach Stacy McIntyre said. “I think any time you have games down the stretch against Colorado State, against UNLV, it prepares you for a moment like this.

“We were prepared. We executed. Everybody was locked in.”

Pedersen scored 29 points for Wyoming (10-20), but nobody else had more than six.

“Air Force has always been aggressive,” Pedersen said. “They play really good defense, and they catch you off guard every time you play them. Yeah, big credit to them, and they are a tough team to play. It’s just always a challenge to figure out how to solve playing their defense.”

The Falcons (14-17) had wanted for weeks to build momentum for this tournament. That didn’t quite happen, with consecutive losses leading into Saturday. They found their momentum here in three quarters. Then lost it. Then found a way to grind through.

Now this group, loaded with experience, will take on No. 1 San Diego State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

“I think this team deserved to win,” said Clay, who scored 10 points in her first Mountain West tournament appearance, “and we’re not satisfied.”