MILLINOCKET – As the high school basketball regular season winds down, teams are searching for pointworthy wins and strong defensive efforts going into the upcoming tournament in Bangor.

That’s just what the Houlton girls basketball team got out of Saturday’s 58-39 victory over Stearns at Wentworth Gymnasium in a matchup of two of the top Eastern Maine Class C teams.

Not only did the Shiretowners, now 14-2, pick up a lot of points by beating Stearns (12-4), but they also shook off a loss to defending Class B state champ Presque Isle last week.

Houlton also avenged a 42-40 loss to the Minutemen earlier this season.

“It’ll put us up there in Heal Points,” said 6-foot-2 Houlton center Rachel Foster, who pumped in 24 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. “We needed this, too. Coming back from the Presque Isle game this is good for us.”

Stearns got 14 points from Felicia Achorn, who hit four of six 3-point attempts.

Achorn was the only Stearns player in double figures, however, as the Shires used a 2-3 zone to limit the Minutemen inside and bottle up 5-11 center Angela MacDonald and 5-9 forward Deanna Michaud. They combined for 17 points while Stearns was 15-for-47 (31.9 percent) from the floor.

“We felt that their inside game was stronger, so we wanted to play a zone and [make them] take the shots that they don’t feel comfortable taking,” Foster said. “So the zone worked for us.”

Foster, Desiree Dow, Keegan Hovey (10 points, 7 rebounds), and Victoria Rowe all manned the bottom of the zone at times. Houlton was also able to create turnovers with Emily Bartlett and freshman point guard Vanessa Sanderson pressuring the ball at the top of the zone.

“We like to get steals and push the ball up the floor,” said Bartlett, who added 12 points. “We’re a quick team and we like to use that to our advantage. Every steal helps.”

Stearns had 18 turnovers, although the Shires also struggled at times against Stearns’ full-court press and committed 20 turnovers themselves.

Houlton jumped out to an 11-5 lead midway in the first quarter, although Stearns clawed back to make it 13-12 later in the first.

But the Shires scored seven unanswered points in the final two minutes of the first quarter and held the Minutemen scoreless for a stretch of seven minutes, 33 seconds to roll out to a 27-12 advantage. Stearns’ Paige Curtis hit a 3-pointer to end the drought with 3:03 left in the first half.

“We couldn’t really go inside because they kind of stuffed everybody,” said Achorn, a senior captain. “Every time we tried to put it inside, they got the ball or stuffed us.”

In the third quarter MacDonald pulled the Minutemen within six points when she converted a three-point play, but Houlton got quick baskets from Foster and Hovey. Stearns wasn’t able to get closer than eight the rest of the way.

“Offensively, we executed very well,” Houlton coach Shawn Graham said. “Defensively, the intensity won it for us.”

Houlton outrebounded Stearns 40-23. Amy Collinsworth paced the Minutemen with seven rebounds.

SHIRETOWNERS 58, MINUTEMEN 39

Houlton (14-2) Stearns (12-4)

Player G AG F AF TP Player G AG AF TP

Rowe 1 1 0 0 2 Curtis 1 4 0 3

Bartlett 5 10 1 4 12 Michaud 4 14 9

Foster 10 16 4 6 24 Davis 0 1 0

Sanderson 2 6 2 3 6 Rosebsh 0 3 0

Dow 1 3 0 0 2 Cllnswrth 1 8 2

Hovey 5 11 0 0 10 Achorn 5 8 14

McPartlnd 0 0 0 0 0 Leavitt 1 2 3

McGuire 1 1 0 0 2 MacDnld 3 7 8

Totals 25 48 7 13 58 Totals 15 47 10 39

Houlton 20 33 42 58

Stearns 12 20 31 39

3-pt. goals – Houlton (1-2): Bartlett 1-1, Sanderson 0-1; Stearns (6-13): Achorn 4-6, Leavitt 1-2, Curtis 1-2, Michaud 0-1, Davis 0-1, Collinsworth 0-1

JV: Stearns 50-49 (OT)

Attendance: 250 (est.)