Orono’s Wagner sidelined with knee injury

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When Orono High senior Jessica Wagner collapsed during a Jan. 9 girls basketball practice session, she immediately thought she had torn the anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee.

It wasn’t because of anything she felt when the knee buckled, but with the prevalence of ACL tears in girls, it was the first thing that popped into her mind.

As it turns out, Wagner was right. The 6-foot forward had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) test last week and found out Monday morning that she had indeed torn her ACL.

Wagner is unsure of the severity of the injury and how long she’ll be out of action. She tried to play in a Jan. 13 game against John Bapst of Bangor, but that didn’t go well.

“I played about 15 seconds and I was running down the floor and collapsed on it again,” she said. “That was the last straw.”

It doesn’t look to good for a return this season because there are only about three weeks left in the regular season.

The injury has caused Wagner to rethink her future a bit. She hadn’t intended to play basketball in college and was planning to focus on other things, like tennis. But she’s reconsidering her plans.

“It’s a lot harder to sit out than I thought,” she said. “If it turns out that I can’t play again [in high school] I really don’t want my career to end like this.”

A few hours after learning the status of her injury Monday, Wagner watched 5-11 sophomore guard-forward Stacey Saucier score 29 points in a 55-51 overtime win against Houlton.

Saucier will likely take over some of Wagner’s role and join Marie Lint as more of a forward.

“She really stepped up,” Wagner said of Saucier’s effort Monday.

Pelletier gets 100th win

When a doctor told Travis Pelletier at the beginning of last season that he wasn’t going to be able to wrestle that year because of knee problems, the then-Bucksport junior got down on himself.

“I told him, ‘I didn’t raise you to quit like that,’ ” said Joel Pelletier, the Golden Bucks’ coach and Travis’ father. “… And he was back in that doctor’s office two weeks later and the doctor said he was ready to go.”

The hard work has paid off for Travis Pelletier as he earned his 100th career win Monday during a match against Hermon. Pelletier, who usually wrestles in the 160-pound division, wrestled at 171 Monday because his father didn’t want a forfeit to be the 100th win. Travis Pelletier pinned his Hawk opponent in 46 seconds with a wrestling move called a bear hug.

Joel Pelletier estimated Travis has only had about two years worth of wrestling because of knee injuries.

“I’m really just excited and proud,” Joel Pelletier said.

Warriors’ Lyons makes big plays

Nicki Lyons has been racking up big numbers for the Southern Aroostook girls basketball team, but stats aren’t the only reasons Lyons is an indispensable member of this season’s 12-1 Warrior squad.

Lyons has made some big plays in big games, too.

In her latest exploit, Lyons hit two key 3-pointers in the third quarter of a Jan. 13 game against East Grand of Danforth, which helped the Warriors of Dyer Brook pull away for a 51-26 win.

And Saturday, in Southern Aroostook’s first loss of the season, she scored a team-high 17 points before fouling out of the game against Limestone.

She hit an 18-footer with one second left to boost SAHS to a 48-47 win over the Vikings in the Warriors’ Dec. 7 season-opener. On Jan. 3 Lyons put in a layup with three seconds left to edge Class C Hodgdon 44-42, another point-worthy win.

Lyons drained four 3-pointers en route to 27 points in a 58-44 victory over Van Buren Jan. 11.

“I guess I think of myself as a leader,” said Lyons, one of four senior captains. “I think my team and my coach put a lot of faith in me and that helps, too.”

That season opener against East Grand was the most memorable so far, Lyons said. She hit a 3-pointer to win the game but coach Jon Porter had called a timeout, so the shot didn’t count.

But it was no problem for Lyons. After the timeout she drained a jumper with one second left for the win.

“It was the first game of the season, and [Danforth] is a hard place to play, anyway,” she said. “It was exciting to start off like that.”

Even when Lyons’ point totals aren’t eye-popping, her other numbers are. She had just seven points in a 53-38 win over Ashland Jan. 13, but also dished out 13 assists.

Porter said Lyons has been averaging about 8-9 assists per game.

“She just sees the floor so well,” he said.

Lyons said some of the Warriors’ younger players, such as sophomore defensive standout Mindy Watson and freshman forward-center Audrey Charette, have also had big moments late in games.

Charette nailed a baseline jumper with 30 seconds left to put Southern Aroostook up by two points in a 37-34 win over Katahdin of Sherman Station Jan 9.

Palmer times among best in state

Bangor High swimmer Eric Palmer just keeps getting faster.

This year, the senior again has posted some of the top times in the state, especially in the 100-yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley. He ranks first in those events.

“I’m very happy with things so far,” said Palmer, who was second in the breaststroke at the Class A state meet last year.

In the most recent rankings, Palmer’s 1:03.11 is the top Class A time in the state, more than three seconds better than Scott Ward of Cheverus High in Portland. Palmer’s best time of 2:03.64 in the IM is nearly 11/2 seconds better than Chris Mosley of Portland’s Deering High.

Palmer is second in the 100 butterfly and third in the 100 freestyle.

In the IM, Palmer is 11/2 seconds faster than his best time from last year – and last season’s best time of 2:04.44 came at a point when he was tapered.

“I attribute it to just normal progression,” Palmer said of his time drops. “We have to work doubly hard this year because we’re a much smaller team than normal. Plus we just started our taper so we’re starting to see fast times.”

Palmer plans to swim in college next year, and has applied to Colgate in Hamilton, N.Y., West Virginia Wesleyan, which is where several local swimmers attend school, and Dalhousie in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which is one of the top men’s swimming teams in Canada.

Jessica Bloch can be reached at 990-8193, 1-800-310-8600 or jbloch@bangordailynews.net.