HERMON – With all eyes on Lindsey Duplisea as the sharpshooting senior guard continues to make a comeback from her knee injury, a 5-foot-8 junior forward sparked the Hermon girls basketball team Wednesday night.

And for Stearns fans … well, it was hard to watch the Minutemen of Millinocket hurt themselves at the free-throw line.

Rachel Jenkins scored 17 points and outplayed two taller Minutemen forwards inside as Class B Hermon earned a 51-42 victory at the high school gym here.

The Hawks’ win breaks a seven-game losing streak that dated back to the second game of the season – and coincided with knee injuries to Duplisea and senior guard Melissa Overlock. Hermon is now 3-7.

“We wanted to try our hardest going in,” Jenkins said. “We weren’t thinking positively, I guess, but we knew we wanted to go hard. They were 8-1 and we were 2-7. This win will really do it for us.”

The 8-2 Minutemen are dealing with injuries and illness of their own, including Shena Pineau’s sprained left ankle. Stearns made only 19 of its 34 free-throw attempts (12-for-27 through the first three periods).

“We didn’t have any zing or zip. We couldn’t play man, we couldn’t play zone,” Stearns coach Jerry Burleigh said.

The Hawks didn’t shoot much better from the line, going 18-for-28.

Jenkins hit seven of her eight field-goal attempts, including a 4-for-4 effort in the second quarter. She also had seven rebounds.

“I need to be more of an offensive threat, with the injuries that we have,” she said.

Jenkins and guards Jessie Wiggin and Jenny Buzzell helped Hermon gain a lead for good in the second quarter.

Stearns had a 16-13 lead with 4:36 to go in the first half, but Buzzell and Wiggin each hit two free throws to go up 17-16. The Minutemen grabbed the lead again briefly on a Leslie Osborne jumper.

Jenkins took over from there, putting back a rebound, scoring again off an inbound pass from Duplisea and making two free throws for a 23-18 lead.

Candice Achorn connected on a jump shot to cut it to three points, but Jenkins grabbed another rebound and made a layup with 58.6 seconds left. A free throw for both teams made it 26-21 at the half.

Wiggin and Buzzell combined to go 8-for-10 from the charity stripe in the second quarter.

Hermon outscored Stearns 25-21 in the second half to seal the win.

“Everything came together as a team,” Duplisea said. “We worked together, looked down the floor, talked to each other.”

Jenkins and the rest of the taller Hermon guards did a fine job of shutting down 5-10 forwards Pam Pelletier and Jen Raymond, who combined to go 4-for-20 from the floor.

“I thought what we did better with tonight than we have all year is defensive rebounding,” Hermon coach Don Erb said. “I don’t know whether it was the way it bounced or we did a better job blocking out, but we just got more rebounds.”

Taren Macdonald added nine points for the Hawks and had a team-high nine rebounds. Buzzell, who stands just 5-4, had seven rebounds.

Pelletier led the Minutemen with 12 points and six rebounds. Raymond grabbed 10 rebounds.

Hawks 51, Minutemen 42

Stearns (8-2) Hermon (3-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

A. Mackenzie 0 1 0 0 0 Wiggin 1 10 10

Nason 1 2 1 2 4 Hichborn 1 8 4

Legassey 2 3 0 1 4 Garland 0 0 0

J. Osborne 0 0 0 0 0 Duplisea 1 3

K. Mackenzie 0 0 0 0 0 Macdonald 4 13 1 1 9

Boynton 1 3 4 8 6 Reynolds 1 3 2

L. Osborne 1 3 0 0 2 Buzzell 1 2 6

Saucier 0 1 0 0 0 Frost 0 1 0 0

Pelletier 3 9 6 12 12 Jenkins 7 8 17

Achorn 2 9 4 6 8

Raymond 1 11 4 5 6

Totals 11 42 19 34 42 Totals 16 49 18 28 51

Stearns 11 21 31 42

Hermon 8 26 42 51

3-pt. goals: Stearns (1-4): Nason 1-1, A. Mackenzie 0-1, Legassey 0-1, Boynton 0-1; Hermon (1-5): Wiggin 1-1, Duplisea 0-1, Macdonald 0-3

Attendance: 250 (est.)

Preliminary: Hermon JVs 50-Hawks 51, Minutemen 42

Stearns (8-2) Hermon (3-7)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG F AF TP

A. Mackenzie 0 1 0 0 0 Wiggin 1 10 10

Nason 1 2 1 2 4 Hichborn 1 8 4

Legassey 2 3 0 1 4 Garland 0 0 0

J. Osborne 0 0 0 0 0 Duplisea 1 3

K. Mackenzie 0 0 0 0 0 Macdonald 4 13 1 1 9

Boynton 1 3 4 8 6 Reynolds 1 3 2

L. Osborne 1 3 0 0 2 Buzzell 1 2 6

Saucier 0 1 0 0 0 Frost 0 1 0 0

Pelletier 3 9 6 12 12 Jenkins 7 8 17

Achorn 2 9 4 6 8

Raymond 1 11 4 5 6

Totals 11 42 19 34 42 Totals 16 49 18 28 51

Stearns 11 21 31 42

Hermon 8 26 42 51

3-pt. goals: Stearns (1-4): Nason 1-1, A. Mackenzie 0-1, Legassey 0-1, Boynton 0-1; Hermon (1-5): Wiggin 1-1, Duplisea 0-1, Macdonald 0-3

Attendance: 250 (est.)

Preliminary: Hermon JVs 50-34