HERMON – In a game of zone defenses, the team that found the holes first – and most often – picked up a big win.

Shots didn’t exactly come easily for either the Hermon or the Mount Desert Island girls basketball teams in their matchup Wednesday night, but the Hawks clicked first, got out to a big lead, and then fended off a Trojan rally for a 46-36 victory at the high school gym.

The Hawks were looking for a good boost for the end of the regular season, especially after a disappointing 66-34 loss to Presque Isle on Saturday. Now 14-4, Hermon will wait to find out its matchup for the Eastern Maine Class B tournament.

“We knew that if we lost this we were definitely playing a prelim game, and now it just depends on other teams,” said Hermon guard Cassie White, who scored 12 points. “They’ll be seeded higher than us because they had a big win against PI, and [Wednesday’s win] gives us some points.”

MDI goes to 12-5 and will face Foxcroft Academy in its regular-season finale Friday night.

Neither team could get much going early and the game was scoreless with about three minutes left in the first quarter – the squads were a combined 0-for-14 at one point – but Hermon’s Erica Armstrong sparked the Hawks with two long-range jumpers.

“At first the shots weren’t falling but Erica made a few to begin with and got us on fire,” White said.

Once they settled down – Hermon had seven first-quarter turnovers – the Hawks got off to a 10-2 start and then White scored eight points, including two 3-pointers, to open up a 24-11 halftime lead as Hermon found space against the Trojans’ zone defense.

Paige Macdonald and Shannon Wiggin also had jumpers in the second quarter. That also opened things up a bit for 6-foot-2 center Malerie Hall, who finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

“We worked hard moving the ball in and out and whenever anyone was open we’d take a shot,” said Wiggin, who had a game-high 14 points to go with nine rebounds. “And once [the shooters] make a few the defense has to come out on them, so we’re open more inside.”

Hermon had a lot of success with its 1-3-1 zone in the first half, especially because MDI just plain didn’t shoot well.

The Trojans were 1-for-18 from 3-point distance.

“The girls just settled for 3-point shots and it didn’t make any difference who I had in the game,” MDI coach Chip Taylor said. “Everybody decided to just settle for 3s. … We just didn’t do anything well tonight.”

But MDI had the makings of a late comeback. The Trojans went to man-to-man defense in the third quarter and while that didn’t force too many turnovers, MDI still went on a 7-0 run in the fourth quarter to cut Hermon’s lead to 41-34. Amanda Young had five of her eight points in the run.

“I think they got used to playing against the 1-3-1, and they got some easy shots at the end,” White said.

Susan Falt led MDI with 10 points and Kelsey Stratton had a team-best 10 rebounds.

Hermon’s girls and boys basketball teams and band celebrated senior night Wednesday in anticipation that the approaching snow storm might force a postponement Thursday. The MDI boys are scheduled to travel to Hermon tonight.

HAWKS 46, TROJANS 36

MDI (12-5) Hermon (14-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Stanley 3 11 1 2 7 Armstrong 2 4

Records 1 1 0 0 2 Nelson 0 1 0

Stratton 1 14 1 2 3 White 3 11 12

Banks 0 4 0 0 0 Kelley 0 1 0

Shuster 0 2 0 0 0 Wiggin 4 10 14

Hodgdon 2 3 0 0 4 Hall 4 8 10

Falt 4 7 2 2 10 Macdonald 3 8 6

Am. Young 2 9 3 3 8 Gibson 0 1 0

Dow 1 3 0 0 2

Totals 14 54 7 9 36 Totals 16 44 13 17 46

MDI 2 11 26 36

Hermon 10 24 39 46

3-pt. goals – MDI (1-18): Am. Young 1-3, Shuster 0-1, Stanley 0-4, Stratton 0-10; Hermon (2-8): White 2-5, Macdonald 0-3

JV: MDI 41-9

Attendance: 300 (est.)