Justin St. Ours | Daily Press Mid Peninsula’s Kennedy Englund (23) takes a shot against Bark River-Harris’ Allison Richer (23) and Cara Zawacki (behind) Tuesday at Bark River.

HARRIS — Kennedy Englund helped the Mid Peninsula Wolverines overcome the Bark River-Harris Broncos and their raucous student section for a 45-44 win in the final minutes of the fourth quarter Tuesday at Bark River in a girls basketball game.

“Kennedy was in foul trouble all game and couldn’t play tight defense like she likes to, so we posted her up down low,” Mid Pen coach Phil Croasdell said. “She got us a couple buckets there that kept us just enough ahead to keep us going.”

Mid Pen led 45-39 with two minutes left in the Skyline Central Conference game. Bark River’s Riley Arndt scored with 1:32 remaining, and Sierra Debelak made it a one-possession game 30 seconds later on a breakaway layup.

The Wolverines (7-3, 4-3 SCC) then missed two bonus free throws to leave the door open.

With 17.5 seconds remaining, Bark River’s Grace Peterson made her first free throw but then missed her second as Mid Pen was able to hang on for the win.

“It came down to making plays at the end, but we just didn’t make enough of them,” BR-H coach Matt Richer said. “In the second half, effort-wise (I was happy). We’re halfway through the season, and we have to improve game to game. The last couple games we haven’t. We’ll keep working hard. I’ve got a good group of girls. We can’t give up the lead early on like we did tonight. They just outworked us.”

Trailing 11-9 after the first quarter, the Wolverines pulled ahead and led 33-32 entering the fourth quarter.

“We played pretty good early on, but we stunk we the second quarter,” Richer said. “We knew Mid Pen was going to bring some good athletes here. We couldn’t find the rhythm we had to start the game. By then, we were down and playing catch-up.”

Bark River (5-5, 5-2 SCC) took the lead back almost a minute into the fourth quarter on a layup by Arndt. The Wolverines answered 15 seconds later with a triple from Daisy Englund. Chevy Koski then hit two free throws with 5:15 remaining to extend Mid Pen’s advantage to 38-34.

After an Arndt layup, Aspen Fredrick went 1 of 2 from the charity stripe to bring the Broncos within one with four minutes left.

Kennedy Englund then converted a 3-point play and hit a jumper to put the Wolverines ahead 43-37 with three minutes remaining.

“We gave up a few easy buckets early on, but we started clicking (in the second quarter),” Croasdell said. “It was our defense that won us this one. It was kind of a fun game, but it was a little stressful for us. It was a good all-around team effort.”

Kennedy Englund led the Wolverines with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Daisy Englund finished with eight points and eight rebounds.

The Broncos were led by Debelak with 11 points.

Bark River, which won the JV game 50-27, travels to Escanaba Friday. Mid Pen visits Carney-Nadeau Friday.

Mid Pen 9 13 11 12 — 45

Bark River 11 6 15 12 — 44

Mid Pen — K. Englund 23, D. Englund 8, C. Koski 6, Croasdell 2, L. Koski 2, Prater 2, Lancour 2. F: 13; fouled out: none; FT: 7-16; 3-point field goals: K. Englund 2, D. Englund 2.

Bark River — Debelak 11, Arndt 8, Zawacki 7, A Richer 6, Peterson 4, Lockwood 3, Berg 2, Roll 2, Fredrick 1. F: 17; Fouled out: none; FT: 6-12.