AUBURN — That a program record for shooting was broken in Tuesday’s game suits the Edward Little girls basketball team’s recent run of success well.

Rachel Penny became the Red Eddies’ career leader for 3-pointers, and offense continued to be the catalyst as Edward Little earned its fourth straight victory, 54-40 over Thornton Academy.

The Red Eddies have scored 50 points or more in four consecutive games, which coincides with their winning streak — an impressive stretch that includes a road win over defending Class AA champion Cheverus. Tuesday’s triumph is the first for Penny and the other Edward Little seniors over Thornton.

“It means a lot, because those have been our biggest goals forever,” Penny said. “I mean, those are the top schools, the biggest schools, the top teams; it’s always a good thing to beat them.”

Penny made four 3-pointers and set a program record with 154 in her career. She said she’s had her eye on the record since she was a freshman.

“She puts in a lot of work shooting 3s,” Edward Little coach Frank Perry said. “She’s really had to put in the time and she’s dialed in right now. Being back on our court, using our shooting machine, is getting her the opportunities to practice.”

The Red Eddies improve to 7-3, which puts them two wins away from their first goal of a .500 record this season. Perry said that he saw a lot of potential in the Eddies heading into his first season leading the program.

“I thought we had all the makings, with super athletes and a good point guard, with Hope (Fontaine) coming back,” Perry said. “I’ve got a great shooter in Rachel, we’ve got a 6-3 kid, we’ve got a couple great freshmen coming in, and Violet (Vincent) is such a defensive force … she’s so smart, she really drives our defense.”

Penny made all of her 3-pointers and scored all 12 of her points in the first half. Fellow senior Layla Facchiano led the Red Eddies with 18 points, including 6-for-6 shooting at the free-throw line.

Perry said the Red Eddies have a “nice, balanced offense,” full of capable shooters.

“It still is led by Layla and Rachel, but we do tell everybody they have the green light if they have a good shot to shoot,” Perry said. “Notice that they all take shots.”

Another asset for the Red Eddies, Perry said, has been sophomore Hope Fontaine, who is back on the court after being sidelined because of an ACL tear nearly a year ago. Fontaine made a 3-pointer and scored seven points in Tuesday’s victory.

Two freshmen, Elizabeth Galway (eight points) and Charlotte Ranger, also contributed. Galway, who is fearless in the post, was especially key after 6-foot-3 Alexis Creaser left the game midway through the first quarter because of a leg injury.

“Elizabeth Galway did such a good job with her size, she’s not afraid of anybody, so she doesn’t mind getting in and pushing around the bigger kids from the other team,” Perry said. “She really stepped up for us in this game, because Alexis went down so early.”

Young, but Golden

Thornton Academy (3-5) can relate to relying on freshman, with a starting lineup of four freshmen and one sophomore. One of the freshmen, Brooke Bodnar, finished with 21 points.

“She’s a freshman, and she’s fearless,” Trojans coach Suzanne Rondeau said. “Brooke just plays. It doesn’t matter if she missed the first five shots — that’s what makes her great, she’s going to continue to play and play fearless and play to her potential. She doesn’t play like a freshman, she just plays like she belongs, and that makes her good.”

Another freshman, Sienna Eldred, contributed 10 points for Thornton. Rondeau said it’s unusual for the Trojans to play a heavily underclassmen lineup, but with only two upperclassmen on the roster, playing time for the first-year players was unavoidable. The youth movement has been exciting, and surprising to opponents.

“When they look at the lineup, they laugh like, ‘Wow, four freshmen and a sophomore.’ I don’t think they expect us to compete and fight,” Rondeau said. “Once we can get past that barrier of not being sped up, because that’s a maturity thing, in experience, they have a lot of basketball experience, they just haven’t played against a lot of 17- and 18-year-olds in games.”

Tuesday’s matchup with Edward Little opened a tough four-game stretch for Thornton against some of Class AA’s top teams. The Golden Trojans face Sanford (6-3) on Thursday, Cheverus (6-3) on Friday and South Portland (8-2) next Tuesday.

The Red Eddies are off until Monday, when they host rival Lewiston (1-9).