The Air Academy girls’ basketball team used a 17-point run that spanned almost the entire fourth quarter to exact revenge on Lewis-Palmer in a 52-26 win on Friday night.

“Last year we lost to them and we were down 19-1 in the first quarter,” Kadets coach Ivan Chambers said. “We could not have played any worse, so there was definitely some extra incentive today. Eleven of these girls were here last year, and I can tell you that each one of them remembers what it felt like in the locker room.”

Sophomore Erin Todd started the Kadets’ spurt, hitting a jumper with just over 6 minutes remaining to give Air Academy (2-0) a 30-22 lead. The Kadets scored 22 more points before the end of regulation while giving up just four.

An intentional foul by Rangers senior Sarah Emter added some extra motivation for the Kadets.

“That foul just really made us want it more,” Kadets sophomore Sarah Schweiss said. “We got a little mad and all of us have been playing together a long time. We were there for each other.”

Schweiss, who was responsible for five points in the final 4 minutes of play, led the Kadets with twelve points.

After a first quarter where neither team was able to get organized offensively, Air Academy scored nine in a row in the second to take a 19-8 halftime lead.

“We did not shoot well early on, and we were battling for the ball,” Chambers said. “We started hitting at the end of the second quarter and we needed to go into halftime with that lead.”

Kai Brown, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, led the Rangers (0-1) in scoring with eight points.

Palmer’s Mary Miller, who worked for a shot on Douglas County’s Natalie Hurst in the second half, scored 17 points Friday night. Photo by MARIAH TAUGER, THE GAZETTE