Lady Pioneers let one get away

By Scott Nulph Stillwater NewsPress

STILLWATER — The Stillwater Lady Pioneers appeared ready to run the Enid Lady Pacers out of Stillwater Fieldhouse on Tuesday.

Coming off their first home win in the last two years and riding a two-game winning streak, the Lady Pioneers led the Lady Pacers 30-21 early in the third quarter after a basket by LaNesha Middleton.

That’s when Enid went to a zone defense, the Stillwater offense went cold and the Lady Pacers ended the game on a 23-13 run to edge the Lady Pioneers 44-43.

“We scored four points and had six turnovers our last 18 possessions,” SHS coach Carl Treat said. “We just failed to execute on offense. We took some bad shots. They went to a zone and we stopped moving the ball.

“This was a game we should have won.”

Despite the offensive shortcomings by Stillwater in the second half, Enid still didn’t take its first lead of the game until Haley Rasp made two free throws with 2:49 to go to give the Lady Pacers a 37-36 edge.

Enid, who made 18 of 21 free throws in the game, then got two free throws each from Rani Melvin and Courtney Chelf to extend its lead to 41-36 with 41.4 seconds left.

Stillwater made a furious rally to almost steal back a game it had looked to have in control most of the night.

Two free throws by Middleton and a 3-pointer by Emma Gade with 6.7 seconds left helped cut the lead to 43-41. Rasp made 1 of 2 free throws with 6 seconds left, followed by SHS’s Ashby Wieligman hitting a free throw with 5.2 seconds to go up 44-42.

Wieligman missed her second free throw, but Rasp was called for a foul on the rebound, sending Middleton to the free throw line with 4.7 seconds left. Middleton made the first and missed the second. But Stillwater tied up the rebound and got the ball on the alternating possession, giving the Lady Pioneers one final chance with 3.7 seconds to go.

On the inbounds play, the ball went to Allison Smith underneath the basket. But she was stripped going up for the shot and the clock ran out.

“The positive thing about this game is we didn’t quit and still had a chance to win it at the end,” Treat said. “We just didn’t finish it.”

Wieligman led SHS with 15 points while Middleton scored 13 points. Gade had 7 and Smith 6 for the Lady Pioneers.

Melvin scored 16 points for Enid to lead all scorers. Rasp added 13.

 

Enid    12    19    30    44

Stillwater    15    26    33    43

ENID: Melvin 5 4-5 16, Crowl 1 0-0 2, Chelf 2 4-4 6, Jones 0 1-2 1, Rasp 3 7-8 13, Wehrenberg 1 2-2 4. Totals: 13 18-21 44.

STILLWATER: Gade 2 2-3 7, Wieligman 3 6-7 15, Smith 2 2-4 6, Middleton 5 3-4 13, Fort 1 0-0 2, Iven 0 0-0 0, Wyzaard 0 0-0 0, Frazier 0 0-0 0. Totals: 13 13-18 43.

3-pointers: Enid 2 (Melvin 2); Stillwater 4 (Wieligman 3, Gade 1). Total fouls: Enid 15, Stillwater 16. Fouled out: none.

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