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AUBURN — The Edward Little girls basketball team has been defying expectations and recent history since early in the season.

The latest triumph over the norm is the program’s return to the Class AA North semifinals, and to Cross Insurance Arena, for the first time in seven years.

“Our motto’s been ‘Why not us?’ all year, so we’re sticking with that,” first-year coach Frank Perry said.

The third-seeded Red Eddies advanced to the second week of the tournament by beating sixth-seeded Portland 52-35 in the quarterfinals Wednesday. They last played in the semifinals in 2018 when they won the program’s only state title.

“It’s honestly so surreal,” senior guard Layla Facchiano said. “I’m so thankful to even be past the quarterfinals. Like, it feels amazing.”

How did Edward Little win?

• The Red Eddies pressed from the get-go, preventing the Bulldogs (4-15) from finding a rhythm and holding them to 12 points in the first half.

“We really emphasized that, you know, this whole week in practice, about being aggressive,” Perry said. “Really, just putting it to them right away and setting a tone for the game that we wanted to be aggressive. … We wanted to make sure we had that precedent going into the tournament, that every game matters, every possession matters, and we really got to just go hard every possession.”

• Outside shooting. The Eddies hit three 3-pointers in the opening eight minutes, which helped them to a 20-4 lead.

They said it

• “We’ll probably go watch the next game … Cheverus and Lewiston (on Friday). So, we’ll probably go down and try to get to that game as a team and see who comes out of there and what they’re doing and be ready for them. We beat both those teams this year. So I think we feel like we can play with anybody at this point. But we feel good about our chances.” — Frank Perry

• “I think we move the ball really well, and we look to get Rachel (Penny) her open shots because she’s one of our best 3-point shooters. When Liz (Galway) is open in the paint, we are totally OK with her shooting that. Alexis Creaser is big, when she’s open in the paint, totally OK with her shooting it.” — Layla Facchiano

• “Baleria Yugu, she is an outstanding kid, McDonald’s All-Star, she’s one of the applicants for the McDonald’s All-Academic as well. She is going to be a nurse practitioner someday, she’s going to school for nursing. … Obviously, top-10 player in our league, and she showed it tonight.” —Portland coach Joe Johnson

Statistical leaders

• Portland: Baleria Yugu (18 points).

• Edward Little: Layla Facchiano (17 points), Rachel Penny (12 points), Elizabeth Galway (nine points).

Up next

• Edward Little: vs. No. 2 Cheverus (13-5) or No. 7 Lewiston (3-15), at Cross Insurance Arena at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19.