STILLWATER, Okla. — When the Stillwater High School basketball teams took the floor against Enid Tuesday, both Stillwater girls coach Carl Treat and Stillwater boys coach Michael Davis knew it was more than just two games between bitter rivals. It was a chance to really see just how good their teams were.

After seeing their male counterparts upset two top 10 teams at home, Tuesday the Lady Pioneers finally got their chance at an upset. And while it didn’t go Stillwater’s way in the end, Treat said just being able to hang with a team as talented as Enid is the type of thing he hopes to build the rest of the season around.

“We played well most of the game,” Stillwater coach Carl Treat said. “It shows the quality of team that we have and what we can do. It’s just, we need to get the mixture to finish possessions and finish game like that.”

Davis, on the other hand, wasn’t looking for an upset. Instead, the Pioneers were the ones with the target on their backs — a target made even bigger with several players battling illness.

“We were fighting sickness and I was proud of our team,” Davis said. “They did what they needed to do to get the ‘W’. Every win isn’t going to be a 20-point blowout, but they were solid when they needed to be.”

The middle of January is where teams start to seperate themselves from playoff pretenders and playoff contenders. Davis knows that each win during the month gets them that much closer to their goal of making state.

And with the type of depth the Pioneers showed against an athletic Plainsmen squad, Davis said he feels comfortable with his team’s progress so far.

“This was a big win for us,” Davis said. “One of our goals is to win every game in January. It’s just one in a line, but right now we’re on our way to achieving that goal. We just have to keep working and get ready for the next one.

“We’re still a work in progress. We’re still trying to develop our team, just like they are. There are some things that we’re still working on, but overall I do feel like we’re right on track to where we want to be.”

Even in the loss and a trip to No. 1 Edmond Santa Fe Friday, Treat said the Lady Pioneers aren’t hurting.

“(This schedule) is good in the fact that to get to the state tournament, this is what you’re going to see,” Treat said. “You’d like to spread them out a little bit more, but that’s just the way it is. We play a good, competitive schedule to get us ready for the playoffs.”

Like Treat, Davis is also hoping to take the things he learned from playing Enid to get ready for another tough task in No. 11 Edmond Santa Fe.

“At the beginning of the year they were ranked third or fourth,” Davis said. “In my mind, they’re still a top 10 team. They still have athletes and they can still play. We just have to take what we learned in this game and build on it for the next one. We’re not going to win the title in January, but this is about the time that you really start making your move.”