Hermon’s Brooke Gallop pokes the ball away from Erskine Academy’s Kienna Morse during the first half of a girls basketball Class B North quarterfinal game Feb. 14 at the Cross Insurance Center. Mike Mandell/Morning Sentinel

BANGOR — The younger team isn’t supposed to be the one closing out the game like this.

In the midst of what was a tight game for the entire fourth quarter, a sophomore-laden Erskine Academy girls basketball team was anything but fazed. The Eagles were the ones forcing turnovers, making their foul shots — and with it, extending their season.

Erskine claimed a 44-43 victory over Hermon in Friday’s Class B North quarterfinals at the Cross Insurance Center. The win earned the No. 2 Eagles (15-4) a date with No. 6 John Bapst (12-8) in Wednesday’s semifinals.

“This team, we talk a lot about how talent supersedes age every day of the week,” said Erskine coach Danielle Lefferts. “This team has a lot of talent, they know what it takes, and they were ready. I’m so proud of them.”

How Erskine did it

• The Eagles overcame their size disadvantage and forced seventh-ranked Hermon (11-9) into 24 turnovers, including a slew of key ones in the clutch that they converted to points.

• Erskine earned numerous trips to the foul line in the fourth quarter and took advantage, making 10 of 12 free throws to go up 44-40 before Hermon made a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

What it means

• A year after a crushing prelim loss to Maine Central Institute, Erskine entered this season not only with the goal of making it to the Cross Insurance Center but winning on this stage, something it had to beat a tough Big East foe to accomplish.

• The matchup with John Bapst is a rematch of one Erskine won at the Cross Insurance Center in the preseason. After that victory and this one Friday, a young Eagles team is confident it can win in this environment.

“It shows us that we can do anything,” said Erskine’s Kelsie Dunn. “We’ve always wanted this; it’s been our dream since second grade. … Erskine, maybe we haven’t been strong the past couple years, but we’re here, and we can definitely go far.”

They said it

“We practice foul shots all the time, preaching to them that this will make or break games, and tonight that showed. … It’s a huge win for us because, now, the jitters are out. We came out here under the big lights on the big stage, we won, and now, we just have to settle in and play basketball.” — Danielle Lefferts

“We knew they were going to be very difficult to work with and would make it tough for us. They have great players —  great shooters and great rebounders — but we just kept fighting and kept working hard, no matter what.” — Kelsie Dunn

“If we wanted to win, we knew we had to push and work together as a family. We started to fall apart a little bit (after Hermon ended the first half on a 7-0 run), but we had our talk, we came together, and we ended that run.” — Kienna Morse

Stat leaders

Erskine: Kelsie Dunn (13 points, five rebounds), Kienna Morse (13 points), Kinsey Ulmer (nine points)

Hermon: Madelyn Muth (12 points), Brooke Gallup (10 points, five rebounds), Rebecca Balmas (eight points, nine rebounds)