HARRIS — The Bark River-Harris girls had a few surprises in store here Monday night in a 44-29 basketball victory over the Kingsford Fiivvers.

BR-H, traditionally an uptempo team, set up in a half-court offense and 2-3 zone defense in this non-conference contest.

“Our best defense right now is a 2-3,” said BR-H coach Matt Richer. “We worked our tails off for rebounds. We also ran our offense and got some good looks at the basket. We’re not going to play this way the whole year. During the holidays we’ll work on some pressure defense.”

The Broncos (2-1) took a 23-9 lead on a 10-foot set shot by junior center Ava McDonough late in the second quarter.

Kingsford then shaved its deficit to 24-14 on a buzzer-beating jump shot from the lane by senior forward Laura Bracket.

“I thought that would give us some momentum,” said Kingsford coach Jon Lorenzoni. “I’ve seen better nights. I thought we came out kind of flat, but give them credit, They went after it. I thought they would press, but they didn’t. Their zone gave us fits. I’m going to watch some film and figure things out.”

BR-H extended its lead to 37-15 on a 22-foot jumper from the left wing by junior guard Nina Bower late in the third stanza.

The Flivvers (1-1) answered with a 5-0 run, cutting their deficit to 37-20 after the third.

Bower then split a pair of free throws, giving the Broncos an insurmountable 40-20 advantage early in the fourth.

“This was a good game for us to play,” said Lorenzoni. “We going back to the drawing board. Although, the girls didn’t give up. They battled to the end.”

Junior forward Lauren Zawada led the Broncos with 15 points. Bower added a career-high 14 and Hoffmeyer had nine.

The Broncos committed 23 turnovers and the Flivvers had 21.

“We hit some shots tonight,” said Richer. “Nina kind of struggled the first couple games. It was nice to see her get a career-high. We probably played our best ball in the third quarter, then in the fourth we got kind of relaxed. We were kind of holding the ball instead of attacking.”

Malone hit 10 points for Kingsford, which won the jayvee game 35-29.

Zawada and Hoffmeyer scored 12 points apiece in Friday’s 55-36 triumph at Forest Park. Sophomore guard Marissa Ives had eight.

Lilly Post led the Trojans with nine and Lauren Kudwa had seven.

The Broncos travel to North Dickinson Friday. Kingsford hosts Forest Park Friday.

Kingsford 3 11 6 9 — 29

BR-Harris 9 15 13 7 — 44

Kingsford — Counter 2, Kowalski 7, Bracket 3, Malone 10, Briseno 2, E. Bortolini 4. F:10; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Kowalski, Malone.

Bark River-Harris — McDonough 4, Bower 14, H. Varoni 2, Zawada 15, Hoffmeyer 9. F: 16; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Bower 3, Hoffmeyer.