The No. 4 seeded Austin girls basketball team was right in the thick of things late, but it wasn’t able to make a run as it had its season end in a 60-54 loss to No. 5 seeded Byron in a Section 1AAA quarterfinal game in Ove Berven Gym Wednesday.

The Packers (14-12 overall) tied the game up at 47-47 when Ashley Hawkshead, who had 15 points and nine rebounds, hit a pair of free throws with 4:13 left in the game. The Bears (21-6 overall) responded with a Haley Hines three-pointer that made it 50-47 with 3:30 left and Byron closed the game out at the free throw line down the stretch.

“They hit some big shots and they were shots that they haven’t hit,” Austin head coach Todd Johnson said. “You’ve got to give them credit tonight.”

Austin led by as many as eight points in the first half, but it never held the lead in the second half.

“We always seem to have really close games with them,” Johnson said. “It’s a frustrating way to see a season close and it’s disappointing, especially for the kids. Overall, I thought we had a good season. We had a winning season, we finished in the top half of the Big Nine and we had a home playoff game.”

Ruth Koang had 13 points and 15 rebounds for Austin, Shayley Vesel had nine points, five rebounds, three assists and five steals and Kelsey Sederquest had eight points. Johnson said his team will miss its seniors next year.

“It’s going to be really tough to replace the seniors,” Johnson said. “We have really good seniors who did a lot for us. It’s very difficult to see them go and we’re going to lose a lot of points.”

Byron 28 32 — 60

Austin 28 26 — 54

Austin scoring: Ashley Hawkshead, 15; Ruth Koang, 13; Shayley Vesel, 9; Kelsey Sederquest, 8; Awenia Nywesh, 6; Rebecca Younis, 2; free throws: 64 percent (9-for-14); rebounds: 46 (Koang, 15); turnovers: 9