HARRIS — The Bark River-Harris girls made things exciting in the second half on Parents’ Night before dropping a 34-30 basketball decision to the Munising Mustangs here Monday.

BR-H, which failed to score in the second quarter, trailed 21-7 at halftime of this Skyline Central Conference match-up.

Junior guard Kaylen Kienitz hit a layup to give the Mustangs a 23-7 advantage to open the third quarter.

The Broncos answered with a 10-0 run, climbing within 23-17 on a jump shot from the right corner by senior guard Julia Nault midway through the third.

“We came out weak in the first half, but closed the gap quickly in the second half,” BR-H coach Paige Welch said. “We changed things up on defense and went to a little different offense.”

BR-H trailed 25-19 after senior center Melinah Cortez scored on a layup.

Sophomore center Addie Bowerman then sank a seven-foot jumper and sophomore forward Kiera Curtis converted on a three-point play (layup and free throw) to put the Mustangs up 30-19 with 35 seconds remaining in the third.

Nault, however, got a steal and buzzer-beating layup to bring the Broncos within 30-21 at the end of the third.

BR-H then scored the first six points in the fourth, pulling within 30-27 on a layup by Cortez.

Sophomore forward Kiera Curtis put the Mustangs up by five points by hitting a layup on a pass from Bowerman with 4:24 remaining.

Cortez split a pair of free throws at 2:58 and drained a set shot from the lane to bring the Broncos within 32-30 with 42 seconds left to play.

With the Mustangs clinging to a three-point lead, Bowerman split a pair of gifters with .7 second remaining to seal the verdict.

“I thought our defense was good all night,” Munising coach Matt Mattson said. “Zawada (Emma) is a fantastic player. Addie played extremely hard guarding her. Kiera is kind of a double-double person and scored 13 big points and we’ll take that. We knew they were going to make some shots and it was a dogfight down the stretch.”

Munising grabbed an early 7-0 lead on a 21-foot set shot from the right wing by Kienitz and extended its cushion to 13-4 on a steal and layup by freshman forward Taylor LaFlamme with 20 seconds left in the opening frame.

Zawada then sank a gifter and Bridges added two on a technical foul to bring the Broncos within 13-7.

In the second quarter Curtis hit three layups and Bowerman scored on a floater from the boulevard to give the Mustangs their 14-point halftime cushion.

“That was my first technical in 305 games,” Mattson said. “We had to fight through some adversity. We were missing a starter tonight and they double-teamed Addie. One thing I’ll say is the girls have done a pretty nice job sharing the ball.”

Bridges scored 12 points and Cortez added nine for the Broncos, who committed 15 of their 18 turnovers in the first half. The Mustangs also finished with 18 miscues.

Foul trouble also hurt the Broncos at times as Cortez picked up her third just 19 seconds into the second stanza and her fourth midway through the third frame.

“Melinah getting her third foul early in the second quarter definitely hurt us,” Welch said. “Then when she got her fourth, we had to take a chance and keep her in there. Emma did a real good job on defense. Tonight, her job was to help keep Bowerman from scoring and held her to nine points. Emma did exactly what I told her to do. After the game, I told the girls I wasn’t disappointed at all. Munising has some good, young talent. They’ll be a challenge the next couple years.”

BR-H dropped a 43-37 decision to Norway in the jayvee game.

The Mustangs (6-0) visit Newberry tonight and the Broncos (3-3) travel to Gwinn Thursday.

Munising 13 8 9 4 — 34

BR-Harris 7 0 14 9 — 30

Munising — Cotey 1, Curtis 13, Kienitz 8, LaFlamme 3, Bowerman 9. FT: 4-15; F: 13; Fouled out: Kienitz; Technical foul: coach Mattson; 3-point field goals: Kienitz 2.

Bark River-Harris — Bridges 12, Zawada 3, Cortez 9, Rebitzke 1, Nault 5. FT: 7-10; F: 20; Fouled out: None; 3-point field goals: Bridges 2, Nault.