LAS VEGAS – A little girl, maybe 8 or 9, fidgeted nervously courtside Sunday. She buried her head in her dad’s matching San Diego State jersey through the crucial, late moments she couldn’t bring herself to watch.

Her tears appeared long before Air Force completed the 83-76 defeat of her top-seeded Aztecs.

Tears. Real tears. That was different.

During my 20 years at The Gazette I’ve witnessed some amazing moments from Air Force teams. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen the Falcons — definitely not in basketball, men’s or women’s – inflict this kind of genuine pain on an opponent and its fans.

San Diego State had dominated this season, going 19-1 in the Mountain West. But the Aztecs entered Sunday ranked 67^th in the NCAA NET rankings. It was going to take a deep run, maybe a tournament title, to reach the NCAA Tournament.

Air Force yanked that away like it was an offensive rebound in the vicinity of Jayda McNabb.

Opposing tears are an odd marker for program growth, but the Air Force women’s basketball program has reached this point.

“I’ve been here a long time,” said coach Stacy McIntyre, the program’s top assistant and lead recruiter for nine seasons before taking over two years ago. “I think only a few people in the room and even in our locker room or in our office has an idea of how long this road has been.”

This program was hopeless. After moving up from NCAA Division II in 1996-97, the Falcons won just 7.9% of their conference games for the next 19 years.

That’s when Chris Gobrecht came aboard. She had coached in the women’s game since 1979 and is the leader in coaching victories for Washington and Yale. The coup of a hire could undoubtedly be traced to her affection for Air Force, where her son had played water polo and graduated into a career as a pilot.

Gobrecht, with McIntyre as her top lieutenant, brought a rugged defensive standard.

First the margins of defeat shrunk. Then a few wins started trickling in. A program started to take root, punctuated by the 2021-22 season that included a program-best 19-14 record, a run to the Mountain West tournament semifinals and a road victory in the WNIT.

McIntyre’s impact was felt throughout, particularly on the recruiting side. Successful recruiters are either genuine or genuinely adept at seeming genuine. Good luck to the latter, as any recruits sold a bill of goods will be soon enough weeded out by basic training and the rigors that come with the academy.

The relationships McIntyre built on the recruiting trail continued at the academy, a recurring refrain mentioned by a deep group of upperclassmen that compose the core of the most complete roster the program has ever fielded. You want scoring? Milahnie Perry is the best Air Force has ever had. McNabb will finish as the best rebounder. Keelie O’Hollaren is as good from 3 as they’ve had. Alexis Cortez is a legit Division I defender. Emily Adams has turned herself into an interior weapon. Bhret Clay keeps providing valuable minutes as a freshman.

It’s all there. But the results hadn’t been. It took an escape act to prevent a December home loss to Division II New Mexico Highlands. There was hope that momentum would materialize, but it didn’t. Then there was hope that things would somehow come into focus in Las Vegas.

Sin City is not genuinely the place to lean on a prayer.

But here we are.

Now, the prayers rest on the other side.

“We’ve got to prepare ourselves, get ready for their athleticism, their full-court pressure,” said Boise State coach Gordy Presnell, whose team will face Air Force in Monday’s semifinals. “And this kind of sounds trivial, but I take it very seriously, Air Force tries as hard as they can. That’s hard to do this day and age with kids, they try as hard as they can. That makes it really difficult. I was proud of their win (over San Diego State). I was proud of their coach. They’re relentless in their effort.”

I’ve witnessed this full turnaround. It’s a feel-good story I’ve thoroughly enjoyed chronicling.

But Sunday was different. There was the little girl sitting next to me during the game. Then there were red, disappointed eyes on all three players San Diego State brought in for the postgame press conference.

Nobody’s goal ought to be to cause pain. But if your goal is growth, you eventually want to reach the point where you’re strong enough to inflict a little hurtin’.

“It wasn’t just me,” said Perry astutely after her 33 points stole the attention in Sunday’s upset.

She’s right. It was Gobrecht’s vision and experience in program building. It was athletic director Nathan Pine’s decision to hire McIntyre, who has shown the ability to carry the baton. It was the recruiting of players like Perry, then retaining them, and all the while developing them.

That’s what built this. That’s why it now hurts to stand in their way.