By John RittenhouseThe Hills-Beaver Creek girls began their defense of the 2004 South Section 3A Basketball Tournament championship by nipping Ellsworth 43-42 in a quarterfinal-round game played in Luverne Saturday.The fifth-seeded Patriots, who have won six straight games, expected a tight battle from an EHS team that beat H-BC back in November and got one.Ellsworth had two opportunities to set up a potential game-winning shot in the final 13 seconds of the game, but steals by H-BC sophomore guard Kerri Fransman thwarted both chances.The win ups H-BC’s record to 17-8 heading into tonight’s semifinals in Worthington. The Patriots play No. 1 Fulda, a team it has split games with during the regular season, at 6 p.m. Ellsworth’s 14-10 season comes to an end.Saturday’s game between the Panthers and Patriots was tight from beginning to end. H-BC sported the biggest leads of the game (nine and seven points), but EHS managed to battle back into contention during both situations.Ellsworth, which trailed by four points (34-30) entering the fourth quarter, tied the game at 34 when Rosie Lewis converted a field goal with 6:23 left to play. H-BC countered with a 7-0 surge capped by Chelsi Fink’s basket at the 3:32 mark of the quarter to make it a 41-34 game.Ellsworth’s Laurel Drenth, who led all players with 19 points in the contest, trimmed H-BC’s lead to one point (43-42) with a field goal with 48 seconds left. Drenth’s basket set up an exciting finish that resulted in no points being scored.H-BC, which was two of 10 at the charity stripe in the game, missed a bonus free throw with 27.9 seconds remaining. Ellsworth came up with the rebound and moved the ball into H-BC’s side of the court when Fransman came up with a steal before being fouled with 12.4 seconds left to play.Fransman was unable to take advantage of a one-and-one free-throw situation, but she produced another big steal with six seconds left that led to Cassi Tilsra missing a one-and-one opportunity with 2.9 seconds left. Ellsworth got the ball back and called a timeout with 1.9 seconds left, but the Panthers were unable to get off a quality shot before time expired.The game was tied at two in the first quarter when H-BC went on a 13-4 run capped by a three-point shot from Fransman at the 2:16 mark of the period, which gave the Patriots a 15-6 lead. Ellsworth, however, scored the next eight points and trailed 15-14 when Brittney Kramer scored the final two points of the period with two seconds left.Ellsworth overcame a five-point deficit in the second quarter to take its first lead of the game (20-19) when Drenth converted a field goal at 3:11. H-BC regained the lead as the quarter progressed and took a 24-22 edge into the second half when Fransman made one free throw with 6.7 seconds left in the second period.Ellsworth’s Amy Timmer knotted the score at 28 with a pair of free throws at the 4:31 mark of the third quarter. H-BC, however, outscored the Panthers 6-2 the rest of the stanza to take a 34-30 cushion into the fourth quarter.Tilstra led H-BC with 15 points and eight rebounds in the game. Fransman finished with 11 points. Brittney Rozeboom and Stacy Bush added seven rebounds and five assists respectively to the winning cause.Drenth led the Panthers with eight rebounds and five assists. Rachel Kvaale snared six rebounds. Marla Groen distributed four assists.Box scoreH-BCRozeboom 4 0 0-1 8, Fransman 2 2 1-3 11, Bush 0 0 0-0 0, Feucht 0 0 0-0 0, Fink 2 0 0-0 4, Tilstra 6 0 0-1 15, Roozenboom 0 0 0-2 0, Mulder 2 0 1-2 5.EllsworthTiesler 1 0 1-3 3, Connors 0 0 0-0 0, Kvaale 2 0 0-0 4, Lr.Drenth 8 1 0-0 19, Lewis 2 0 0-3 4, Kramer 1 0 0-0 2, Timmer 2 0 2-4 6.Team statisticsH-BC: 19 of 61 field goals (31 percent), two of 10 free throws (20 percent), 33 rebounds, nine turnovers.Ellsworth: 19 of 48 field goals (40 percent), three of 10 free throws (30 percent), 31 rebounds, 16 turnovers.