Milahnie Perry is lifting the Air Force Falcons to new heights

Leading the charge for Air Force at the MWC tourney, and throughout the season, was junior guard Melahnie Perry, who last week earned Honorable Mention All-Mountain West recognition. 

Perry led all scorers in Air Forces’ win over Utah State on Sunday with 22 points and six assists. But for Perry, it was just another day at the office. The native of Tampa averaged 16.1 points per game this season, tops on her team and sixth overall in the MWC.

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Playing basketball at Air Force is a unique experience. Like all of her teammates, Perry is not allowed to participate in any Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) deals; instead, Air Force students receive a monthly stipend and are considered employees of the United States military.

Perry, a junior, is locked into a five-year commitment in the United States Air Force after she graduates. Unlike her compatriots at the other MWC programs, she can’t sign a contract to play professional basketball even though she’s good enough to play in virtually any league.

On top of these constraints, the admission requirements to get into the AFA are extremely rigorous, including for varsity athletes like Perry. Only applicants with high academic and leadership credentials have a chance of joining the approximately 4,000 students at the AFA campus in Colorado Springs. 

Despite all of these limitations, Perry has been lifting the Air Force Falcons to new heights since her arrival on campus three years ago. 

As a freshman, Perry averaged just over 7 points per game off the bench and was named to the All-Mountain West Freshman Team. In her sophomore campaign, Perry blossomed into a star, scoring a program record 535 points as a point guard and earning First Team All-Mountain West recognition.

This season, playing as a two guard, Perry’s scoring numbers declined a bit from her sophomore numbers, yet she surpassed the 1,000 point-mark in January, along with teammate Madison Smith, and has a good chance to become Air Force’s all-time leading scorer before she graduates next spring.

Perry plays with silky smooth panache. She glides down the court, elevates on a dime and can hang in the air for what seems like an eternity when she makes her move to the cup. 

“She doesn’t doubt herself,” Air Force coach Stacy McIntyre told reporters after the Falcons beat Utah State on Sunday. “She knows that her coaching staff and her team have confidence in her. And I think any time a player like that has the ability to take over a game when we need her to without doubting — and she’s just good. I’m always thankful she’s on our team.”

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The Falcons surprised observers with a 9-1 start to the season, a program record since joining Division I. After suffering a dip at the beginning of conference play, the Falcons motored up Interstate 25 and pulled off a shocking upset over in-state rival Colorado State in Fort Collins on Feb. 1, 75-71. Perry poured in a team-high 23 points in what may have been the biggest win in her career.

“I can’t even put in some words how ecstatic we are as a team,” Perry told The Next after the game. “Everyone played so good. Everyone played at a high level. We were really focused in practice this week. And I think that showed.”

Although Air Force fell to Wyoming in the quarterfinals of the MWC tourney on Monday, the Falcons won 18 games this season and achieved a winning record for only the second time since joining Division I for women’s basketball in 1996.

The other winning season in the program’s D-I history came two years ago, during the 2021-22 campaign, when the AFA went 19-14 and received an invitation to play UCLA in the WNIT. It was the first and so far only postseason appearance in the history of women’s basketball at the Academy. 

Senior stalwart Madison Smith was a part of that 2021-22 squad and has been a key cog in Air Forces’s resurgence over the past four years. The 5’8 senior guard from Connell, Wash. leads the team in steals and is second in scoring, averaging 15.2 points per game. Last week, Smith was named to the All Mountain West Team for the first time and the All Mountain West Defensive Team for the second year in a row.

Asked how she feels to have played a central role in the revival of women’s basketball at Air Force, Smith got emotional.

“It means the world to me, especially my senior year,” Smith told reporters after Sunday’s win over Utah State. “This team has a big part of my heart. My freshman-year team was the same way: A bunch of girls that worked hard and wanted to get wins for the program and for the school so we get the recognition that we felt we deserved. I’m really happy that we were able to represent the Air Force Academy well this year.”

Air Force won’t be MWC tournament champions this year, but they have earned the respect of everyone they play.

“We have such high regard [for Air Force] just because … their way of life is way harder than we will ever have to kind of experience,” Wyoming senior Allyson Fertig, the Mountain West Player of the Year, said after Monday’s game. “So I just want to say thank you for their service but also just it’s really cool to see just how awesome they go out there 100%.”

The Falcons are hoping the WNIT or WBIT will come calling soon with an invitation for Air Force to play for the second time in program history in a postseason tournament. But even if the season is over for Air Force, the program is in strong hands with first-year coach Stacy McIntyre at the helm. McIntyre will have Perry back for her senior year, along with current junior Emily Adams and a deep cohort of talented sophomores, including rebounding maestro Jayda McNabb and playmaker Jordyn DeVaughn.

Meanwhile, can Perry find a way to elevate her game to an even higher level during the off-season before her senior campaign?

“Anytime you’re a great player like Milahnie, there’s always work to do,” says McIntyre. “That pull-up jump shot is phenomenal. I’d love to see her be more accurate from 3. I think that will make her more versatile and more difficult to defend.”

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