Chants of “defense!” rang throughout Clune Arena for much of Air Force’s home opener, encapsulating the identity of this year’s squad. 

The Falcons limited Manhattan to seven points in the second quarter Saturday to create a 13-point lead at halftime, and held the Jaspers to zero field goals in the last three minutes of the game to lead the rest of the way and take a 67-54 win in the first home game of the season.

“That’s the foundation of our program — is what we do defensively,” head coach Stacy McIntyre said. “[The second] was one of the best quarters I’ve seen in terms of what we do picking up full court in our pressure, so we just got to continue to build on that, especially at home.”

Air Force (2-2) had three players in double digits, led by junior Jordyn DeVaughn with a career-high 17 points, and senior Milahnie Perry putting up 17 points and four rebounds. Junior Jayda McNabb had 10 points and nine rebounds. 

“She is fearless when she steps out on the floor,” McIntyre said of DeVaughn. ”That’s one of the things we love most about Jordan. She stays locked in and, when she’s open, she shoots it — doesn’t think about it. She is just really developing into someone that is on the floor for an extended period of time and is very productive while she’s there.”

The Falcons shot 37% from the field and 15 for 24 from the free-throw line. Air Force also earned 16 points from 23 Manhattan turnovers and had 15 steals. 

“Just proud of what we did defensively. We picked them up full-court that entire first half and got a lot of steals and turned them into points,” McIntyre said. “Just had to stay tough in the second half. Glad we put a couple threes down, too.”

Air Force started strong with a 35-22 halftime lead after an 11-0 run that limited Manhattan to just seven points in the second quarter with no field goals and just one free throw for the last eight minutes. 

A 9-0 Jasper run in the third quarter put Manhattan within two (39-37), but two 3-pointers by DeVaughn and one from junior Alexis Cortez in the last three minutes of the quarter helped extend Air Force’s lead back to 50-43 into the fourth. 

Despite scoring just four points in the last six minutes of the fourth, the Falcons held the Jaspers to 11 points to maintain their lead for the rest of the contest. 

“I was proud of how we persevered,” Perry said. “The biggest thing we stress is our defense, and I feel like how we play defense translates into our offense and gets us going. It feels good getting back to winning and gives us the confidence we need moving forward.”

The Air Force women next host Portland State at Clune Arena on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. MT.