The 16th-ranked Enid Pacers (13-7), fresh off a 52-49 win over the Oklahoma Storm Saturday night, returned home to the Mabee Center Monday night and were dominant in upsetting 8th-ranked Stillwater (14-7) 64-36.

Following in the footsteps of the Pacers in the early game, the Enid Plainsmen (8-13) rose to the occasion after trailing most of the game to upset 13th-ranked Stillwater (14-7) 55-50 Monday night at the Mabee Center, getting revenge from an early season loss to the Pioneers.

Junior Courtney Chelf had 24 points to lead Enid, giving Chelf 54 points in the last two games. Haven Bay dropped in 14 points in the win. Senior LaNesha Middleton paced Stillwater with 19 points, 12 of them coming in the first half.

“My teammates are getting me good passes and I’ve been able to make the shots,” Chelf said. “Stillwater is a big rival, and it was a great win for us.”

The first half was what fans have come to expect from this rivalry.

Pressure defense dominated both ends of the floor early as Enid eased out to a 12-10 edge after one period. The Pacers led 7-4 with 4:21 showing, but the Lady Pioneers came back with a six point run and led 10-7 with under a minute to go. Enid closed the quarter on a 5-0 run, compliments of a Bay bucket in the paint and a Chelf 3-pointer for the 12-10 lead.

Stillwater was without the services of junior guard Austyn Iven due to injury and in the opening quarter, Pacers’ senior Rylee Nave harrassed Lady Pioneers’ leading scorer Middleton in a man-to-man defense and held her to a single free throw after six minutes of play.

Stillwater responded to begin the second frame with a 7-0 run sparked by Middleton with five quick points in under 30 seconds for a 17-12 Lady Pioneers edge. The Pacers came back again behind Bay and Chelf as the duo led a 7-3 run for a 20-19 Stillwater lead. Enid pulled out to a 26-20 advantage but Middleton picked up the Lady Pioneers with six more points for the 26-26 tie at intermission.

“The first half was pretty even,” said Pacers head coach Robb Mills. “Overall, I don’t think we did a great job defensively early. Rylee (Nave) did a good job on Middleton but she got into foul trouble so we switched to a zone and let everybody get a piece of her.”

In their first meeting earlier this season, Enid went on to victory after winning the third quarter 19-4 in Stillwater. Monday night, the Pacers came out of the locker room after the break red-hot, running out on a blistering 13-1 run en route to a dominating 18-1 third quarter win, taking a 44-27 bulge into the final stanza of play.

“The halftime speech wasn’t real positive,” Mills said. “But the girls responded. I told them we could win this game if they wanted to, and they went out and did the job.”

Enid’s defense forced the Lady Pioneers into 19 turnovers.

“We’ve talked about starting up the mountain and peaking at the right time,” Mills said. “That’s what we’re doing now.”

ENID 55, STILLWATER 50 (B)

Senior Marvin Elmore had a season-high 19 points to lead Enid, including eight in the pivotal fourth quarter. Mitchell Foote added 13 points and Connor Choate dropped in nine to go with the game-winning 3-point bucket from the top of the key with 1:50 to play,  giving the Plainsmen a 51-50 edge they never relinquished. Junior Rico Thompson netted 17 points for Stillwater in the loss.

“We were battling out there tonight,”  said Plainsmen head coach Ryan Wilkinson. “They would take the lead, but we would scrap back. We made some big shots down the stretch, and that was the difference for us tonight. I am real proud of this team.”

Stillwater led 14-13 after one period and 30-24 at the break. Enid kept at it in the third quarter, at one point going on a 10-6 to cut the Pioneers edge to 39-36. Stillwater manufactured a small 5-0 surge to take a 44-36 margin into the final frame of play.

Behind Elmore and Foote, the Plainsmen sliced away at Stillwater, pounding the boards against the Pioneers’ zone defense to trail 50-48 with 1:53 to play. The man-to-man Enid defense stifled Stillwater in the final three minutes, only allowing one bucket at 2:48. In the final minute of the game, the Elmore/Foote duo scored four points to secure the 55-50 hard fought battle before an enthusiastic crowd at the Mabee Center.

“Things started to go our way, and we got the lead late in the fourth quarter,” Wilkinson said. “Our guys were confident, and they were shooting with confidence. We rebounded real well and we have been working on that, especially against zone defenses.”

Enid plays Lawton and Lawton Ike on Friday and Saturday.

“You can’t take away the momentum from beating a quality rival team like Stillwater,” he said. “We’ll take it and move on to this weekend against Lawton.”

“We’ll see what we can do against them here at home.”