PORT HURON >> Detroit Country Day had the unenviable task of trying to deny Detroit Edison PSA entry into the Final Four while trying to punch its own ticket Tuesday night.

But for the second year in a row, DEPSA, the defending Division 2 state champion, knocked the Yellowjackets out of the playoffs, defeating Country Day 59-48 at SC4 Fieldhouse.

“I love the fact that we got here,” Yellowjackets head coach Amber Deane said. “It’s awesome, and we’ve got a pretty good record. But we at Country Day — myself, our competitors, our girls — we want to get further. But I love the fact that they got here and they competed. They left everything on the court, and I’m excited for the future of our program.”

Country Day (20-6) might be the program with more state titles to its name — 13, to be exact — but recent history has favored the Pioneers plenty. Not including the incomplete 2020 playoffs, five of DEPSA’s last seven seasons have ended with a state title.

The Pioneers held the ball for the final minute before scoring at the buzzer to beat Country Day 59-57 in the regional semifinals last year en route to their third D2 title since 2019.

Unfortunately for the Yellowjackets, this one didn’t go down to the wire in similar fashion, though junior Jayla Jackson and senior Ari’Yana Wiggins got DCD to a one-point lead after the opening quarter. DEPSA, however, began to manufacture its lead as the half wore on through its Miss Basketball finalist, senior Isis Johnson-Musah (University of California-Berkley), who had a formidable sidekick on the night in freshman Madison Johnson, who knocked down her first triple of the night with 2:50 left in the half to put the Pioneers up 27-19.

While Johnson-Musah and Jackson were the ones trading scoring jabs for their respective teams, it was the frosh in Johnson who seemed to serve up the haymakers. With DCD lurking behind by by six, she canned her second 3-pointer of the night to make it 38-29 with about three minutes to go in the third quarter.

Two minutes later, she used a crossover on the wing before nailing another attempt from distance to extend the Pioneers’ lead to a dozen, then knocked down another shot, this time from just inside the arc, as the third quarter expired, giving DEPSA (19-6) a 14-point advantage headed into the fourth.

“(Johnson) played a lot better than we expected, so credit to her,” Deane said of the freshman, who had 13 points. “She’s got a bright future and hit some big shots.”

Jackson and Cece Arico each had 3-pointers in the fourth quarter that helped the Yellowjackets tread water, however getting back to within two possessions proved too tall a task as time ran out for Country Day.

It was Arico as a freshman who did the damage the last time the teams met, scoring 25 points. DEPSA head coach Monique Brown knew that stopping Arico and Jackson would be the focus, but Jackson ended up equaling Arico’s total from the previous encounter, leading all scorers in Tuesday’s contest.

“We tried to stop two of them, but one of them went bananas on us,” Brown said in reference to Jackson. “We knew who they were. Cece killed us last year, so we knew what we were into. Jayla (tonight) really just held her own.”

Brown called it “big on our part” to contain Arico to just a dozen points considering the damage she did previously to the Pioneers.

Johnson-Musah made 8-of-9 free-throw attempts and ended with 23 points, three more than in last year’s playoff win over DCD. Sophomore forward Nichole James added 10 for DEPSA, who will face Grand Rapids West Catholic in Friday night’s semifinal.

Wiggins, who finished with four points, was complimented afterward as Deane called her lone senior “one of the best I know I’ll ever have.”

That also means that Arico, Jackson, sophomore Saniyah Blackwell (seven points) and the rest of the team will be back to try and forge toward the Breslin Center again next year.

“Yeah, we got some experience, got some growing up, little bit of an extra chip on our shoulder,” Deane said.

“Extra fuel, but we’re excited for the group that’s coming back.”