Cedar City, Utah - The SUU women's basketball team started hot on Saturday night and didn't cool off, defeating the Air Force Academy Falcons 75–56.

“I'm really happy with our performance tonight,” SUU head coach Chris Boettcher said about the contest. “We set some team goals through finals week and after our USC trip, just a matter of refocusing on what it was that was important for us as a team to be able to be successful and continue to build towards the team that we need to be in conference as well. Tonight, except for the rebounding, I think we hit every one of those goals and the team really worked well together.”

The T-Birds jumped out to an early 5–0 lead over the Falcons, and extended their lead all the way out to 15–2 before the Falcons were able to gain offensive momentum. The Falcons started hitting shots near the end of the first period, but the Thunderbirds stayed in control leading 19–9 after the first quarter.

SUU continued to find success on both sides of the ball in the second quarter, raising the lead to as many as 18 and taking a 41–24 into the halftime break.

Forward Jessica Richardson had a big half, finishing with 17 points on eight-of-nine shooting. Breanu Reid had a big half as well, dropping in 11 points.

SUU continued to control the contest in the third quarter, upping its lead to as many as 21, and in the fourth quarter the T-Birds reached their biggest lead of the night at 25, eventually taking the contest 75–56.

Richardson and Reid tied for the highest point total with 17 a piece. Jamie Smith was second on the team scoring wise with 11 points and six assists. As a team, the Thunderbirds shot 50 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the  three-point line.

Reid said to pick up the victory after her first finals week made it that much sweeter, and she was very thankful to her coach for helping her get through it.

“We've had our talks where I'm like 'I'm so stressed out' but everybody goes through it,” she said. “My teammates really helped me through it because it's my first year, but just re-focusing really helped me through tonight.”

Richardson said the production they got from some of the younger members of the squad played a big factor in the victory.

“It was fun to watch everyone start playing together as a team and raising everyone's confidence,” she said. “As an upperclassman it's just fun to see the lowerclassmen actually start to get it and it was fun.”

Sydney Graham and Cortney Porter both finished in double-digit scoring for the Falcons, both dropping in 10 points.

The Thunderbirds had a big advantage down low, outscoring the Falcons 34–14.

Next up for the Thunderbirds will be a matchup with the TCU Horned Frogs on December 20, which coach Boettcher said the team is looking forward to for more than one reason.