Ewen-Trout Creek’s Emma Besonen (22) directs the offense while Concord’s Cieara Barrett (12) defends Thursday at Breslin Center. (Photo courtesy of MHSAA.com)

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on MHSAA.com.

EAST LANSING — Conventional wisdom might say having a roster with no seniors, four freshmen and two eighth graders indicates a team is years away from state title contention.

But Ewen-Trout Creek coach Jacky Besonen didn’t need to abide by that conventional wisdom at the beginning of this season, and Thursday’s Division 4 Semifinal against Concord showed why.

For the first time in 40 years, Ewen-Trout Creek will play for an MHSAA Finals championship in girls basketball following a 34-24 win over Concord.

Advancing to their first championship game since the Class D Final in 1985, the Panthers will go for their first title since winning the inaugural Class D crown in 1973.

Not bad at all for such a young roster that seems to be way ahead of schedule.

“Last year we lost in the Regional Final to (eventual Division 4 champion) Ishpeming,” Besonen said. “We knew we could get to this point. As the year went on, the girls did a really good job of staying focused every game. We didn’t talk about it, but we knew it was a possibility to get to this point.”

Coming off a 47-37 win over St. Ignace in the Quarterfinals, Ewen-Trout Creek was able to draw some inspiration from the boys team that made it to the Division 4 Final in 2022.

“When our boys team went in 2022, I think that helped us a lot to be familiar with the atmosphere,” junior Emma Besonen said. “Seeing that they could do it like it was normal, we figured we could do it too.”

The Panthers survived a close, defensive grind of a game until pulling away late. A layup by junior Hannah Ferguson gave them a 27-24 lead with 5:18 remaining, and then a basket by freshman McKayla Basel with 1:24 left gave Ewen-Trout Creek a 30-24 lead.

A couple of defensive stops and four free throws by freshman Bree Besonen over the final minute wrapped it up for the Panthers.

Besonen scored 15 points, junior center Irelynd McGeshick had eight and 15 rebounds, and Basel added eight points for Ewen-Trout Creek (27-1).

Each team went 1 of 8 from 3-point range. The difference was that Ewen-Trout Creek got to the foul line more regularly. The Panthers made 9 of 13 free-throw attempts, while Concord connected on 1 of 5.

“That was definitely a grind,” Jacky Besonen said. “Concord was really tough to score against and tough to stop. We were able to grind it out at the end and take care of the ball enough to get some points.”

Junior Cieara Barrett scored nine points to lead the way for Concord (22-5), which like Ewen-Trout Creek is also a young team.

The Yellowjackets will graduate just two players – Lauren Trader and Grace Thorrez. The roster featured four freshmen and four sophomores.

“I told the girls before the game that no matter what the result is, as long as they play hard and leave everything out there, then I’m proud of them,” Concord coach ArShawn Parker said. “That’s what they did tonight. They left everything out there and played extremely hard. That’s all I can ask.”