The No. 15 Horizon girls’ basketball’s season came to a halt when they lost to No. 16 Castle View 56-52 in the second round of the Class 5A state basketball championships Feb. 28 at Horizon High School.

The Hawks (14-2, 18-6 overall) finished the regular season in second place in the Front Range League behind Fossil Ridge, which earned them a first-round bye. Horizon lost a few games in the beginning of the season; however, they won their last 16 of 18 games going into the postseason.

“I think the season went really well,” Horizon senior Ashley Rasmussen said. “We had our slow spots, but every team has that. They are going to be an experienced team next year and they’ll be just as good. They won’t let up.”

Castle View (6-5, 18-7 overall) beat No. 38 Fruita Monument in the first round 62-37 and the momentum continued against the Hawks.

Horizon trailed 34-30 with five minutes left in the third quarter but with the help of junior Alyssa Rader, the Hawks caught up to the Sabercats. Rader scored three 2-pointers, while junior Lauren Bennett scored one 2-pointer to take the lead 38-37 with two minutes left in the third.

Castle View took back the lead in the fourth quarter, but another 2-pointer by Rader caught up the Hawks to just a one-point deficit 41-40. The Hawks fought back every time the Sabercats would pull away, but couldn’t ever take the lead.

Behind 55-50 with 17.4 seconds left in the game, Rasmussen made two free throws to tighten the score to 55-52. With 7.7 seconds left, Sabercats senior Maya Brown scored a free throw giving her team the 56-52 advantage. Horizon couldn’t find the four points they needed in the last seven seconds, losing to Castle View, 56-52.

“It was a good game, everybody played really hard,” Rasmussen said.

“I could not have asked for anything more from anybody. Everybody gave it all they could.”

Rasmussen was the lone senior on the Horizon team this year, so the Hawks will have almost the whole squad coming back for the fall season. Rasmussen said she hopes to continue playing basketball in college and will miss the connections she developed while playing basketball.

“It’s one of those things that you make so many friends throughout the four years that you play,” Rasmussen said.

“It’s one of those things that you can’t give up. You can’t lose those relationships. They become your family and that’s what they are to me.”