The basketball season came to an end for the Hills-Beaver Creek girls Thursday in Ellsworth.

Taking on eighth-seeded Ellsworth win the opening round of the South Section 3A Tournament, ninth-seeded H-BC had an opportunity to avenge a pair of close losses to the Panthers in the regular season.

Ellsworth, however, didn’t let it happen.

EHS overcame a first-half deficit to secure a 49-44 victory.

The win sent EHS to Saturday’s quarterfinal in Worthington, where it met No. 1 Wabasso.

H-BC’s 6-17 season comes to an end.

Thursday’s game was competitive from beginning to end.

H-BC never trailed in the game’s first half, sporting a 10-point advantage at one time before settling with a 28-27 edge at the intermission.

Ellsworth gained its first lead midway through the second half and received a three-point shot from Alissa Walters with 50 seconds remaining to gain a five-point lead that it wouldn’t relinquish.

“It was another good game, but we just couldn’t get the job done,” said H-BC coach Jason Blosmo.

“The girls played extremely hard and left it all out on the floor. We just couldn’t accomplish the ultimate goal of winning.”

Paige Leuthold paced H-BC with 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

Meghan Leuthold pulled down 11 rebounds and Taylor Wingert charted four assists for the Patriots.

Box score

P.Leuthold 9 0 1-2 19, Hl.Van Wyhe 0 2 0-0 6, Wingert 1 0 2-2 4, Ht.Van Wyhe 1 0 0-0 2, Esselink 2 0 3-6 7, M.Leuthold 3 0 0-2 6.

Team statistics

H-BC: 18 of 62 field goals (29 percent), six of 12 free throws (50 percent), 31 rebounds, 11 turnovers.

Ellsworth: 18 of 72 field goals (25 percent), four of nine free throws (44 percent), 31 rebounds, nine turnovers.