LEWISTON — The Lewiston girls basketball team stopped its losing streak against Edward Little.

After losing the previous four rivalry meetings, the Blue Devils defeated the Red Eddies 54-46 in a Class AA North quarterfinal Friday night.

Lewiston coach Josh Morin said the seniors were ready to get the win against their archrivals.

“This a team that beat us four straight times going back to last year,” Morin said. “My group of seniors were really hungry to win their first one against them. They had extra motivation.”

Fourth-seeded Lewiston (10-9) will take on top-seeded Cheverus in the regional semifinals at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

Natalie Beaudoin and Ellie Legare each had 15 points for Lewiston in Friday night’s win.

“I want to give a ton of credit to my other girls,” Morin said. “So far this year it has been about the big three: Natalie, Koral Morin, and Ellie Legere. But I thought Ella (Beaudoin), Bailey (Tardif-Mockler), Gabby (Roman) and Skylar (Gaudette), those other kids showed up huge.”

Layla Facchiano had a game-high 24 points and Savannah Green had 12 points for the fifth-seeded Red Eddies (6-13).

“Layla and Savannah played unbelievably,” Edward Little coach Kristina Blais said. “They hit big shots for us.”

The first quarter went back-and-forth, with the Blue Devils taking an early 5-0 lead before the Red Eddies clawed back and cut the deficit to 8-7.

Points by Legare, Morin and Natalie Beaudoin put Lewiston up 14-9. Facchiano and Green tied the game at 14-14 after a quarter.

Natalie Beaudoin said defense led to Lewiston’s offense.

“I think we really locked down defensively and we worked on the stuff we worked on in practice,” Beaudoin said. “We executed, and offense just came naturally because we were locking down defensively.”

The Blue Devils went on a 15-7 run in the second, but the quarter started with teams trading baskets.

After a Jenny Chaput basket to get the Red Eddies within 21-18, Natalie Beaudoin’s 3-pointer started an 8-3 run to end the quarter. Tardif-Mockler had a layup while Morin had a basket and Natalie Beaudoin hit a free throw.

Blais said Lewiston did a good job of keeping Chaput at bay. She only had four points in the game.

Facchiano stopped the run with a 3 for the final points of the half and Lewiston took a 29-21 lead into the intermission.

Edward Little came out strong in the second half, scoring six straight points to get within 29-27. That was the closest the Red Eddies would get, as Legere hit a trey and dropped in a bucket on back-to-back possessions to put the Blue Devils up 34-27.

The Red Eddies cut the deficit to 40-36 after three quarters when Facchiano hit a 3.

Lewiston took control in the fourth quarter with back-to-back 3s from Ella Beaudoin and Natalie Beaudoin to stretch the lead to 46-36.

“I think help from my teammates — I was being screened and being guarded pretty heavily — their screens and their good passes really got me opened,” Natalie Beaudoin said.

Natalie Beaudoin had two more points in the quarter, while Legere scored four and Korel Morin hit two free throws.

Facchiano had five points for Edward Little in the quarter as the Red Eddies went cold from the field.

“I thought it came down to our defense,” Josh Morin said. “Our M.O. is we play really well in the first half and kind of fall apart in the second. I made sure to tell those kids tonight, ‘Let’s not let it happen again.'”

Blais said the clock wasn’t in the Red Eddies’ favor to have one more run in them.

“We answered their runs well, but we ran out of time,” Blais said. “At moments, it felt like there was a seal on our rim and we just couldn’t get it going, and Lewiston played a great game.”

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