GLADSTONE — Ewen-Trout Creek set the pace early here Tuesday night in a 47-37 girls’ basketball triumph over St. Ignace in a Division 4 state quarterfinal contest.

The victory enables the No. 2 Panthers to advance to the state semifinals for the first time since 1986. They’ll face Concord (22-4) at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center. The winner returns for Saturday’s championship game at 10 a.m.

No. 1 St. Ignace finished 25-2.

“It’s so exciting, knowing we’re getting on the bus and not going home,” E-TC coach Jacky Besonen said. “We’re looking forward to Thursday.”

E-TC, running a patient offense, took a 39-21 lead on a jump shot from the left corner by freshman guard Bree Besonen early in the fourth quarter.

“We tried to control the tempo and their guards did a pretty good job against their full-court pressure,” Coach Besonen said. “We wanted to slow them down. St. Ignace has a very good rebounding team on both ends, although I thought we did a good job on the boards.”

With 5:16 left in the contest, junior Emma Besonen sank a pair of free throws to put E-TC up 41-24.

The Saints, however, didn’t just go away as they responded with a 9-0 run and pulled within 41-33 on a lay-in by senior Jillian Fraser with 1:43 left to play.

Junior Irelynd McGeshick then provided the Panthers with a three-point play Bree Besonen drained a pair of gifters for an insurmountable 46-33 advantage with 72 seconds remaining.

“Irelynd did a great job inside,” Coach Besonen said. “Her three-point play was huge. We got an out-of-bounds play, isolated her and drew a foul. We didn’t do a great job in the end. We had some silly turnovers, but were able to get back on track. We played some tough teams this year which definitely helped us.”

A layup by Bree Besonen gave the Panthers a 15-6 lead early in the second frame.

The Saints got within 15-9 on a three-point play by senior Addison Cullen 63 seconds into the second stanza.

E-TC extended its lead to 19-11 on McGeshick’s jumper from the boulevard before Cullen split a pair of free throws to make it 19-12 with 2:21 left in the second.

The Panthers then scored the last four points before halftime and gained a 23-12 halftime cushion on McGeshick’s buzzer-beating putback.

E-TC continued to build on its lead in the third and into the fourth before St. Ignace mounted its comeback.

“I’m proud of all our girls,” St. Ignace coach Dorene Ingalls said. “It’s a tough way to say goodbye to the seniors when the season ends a little earlier than hoped, but I’m proud of the way they battled back. Hats off to Ewen-Trout Creek. Their big girl did a nice job in the first half. We missed a lot of shots, but it’s part of life. Not everything is going to go the way you want.”

McGeshick scored 19 points and Bree Besonen added 15 for the Panthers, who committed 16 turnovers.

“I knew I had to go strong against their girls and box out,” McGeshick said. “We have some good ball handlers who were able to break their press and slow it down. We tried to get off to a good start because we knew they were going to be a hard team to beat. In our loss at Negaunee (47-30 on Dec. 27) we learned not to get frustrated, and tonight we wanted to be patient.”

Fraser and freshman Katie Halberg scored 10 points apiece for the Saints, who had just seven turnovers but struggled with their shooting for three quarters.