BOUNTIFUL — Playing against the Bountiful High girls basketball team this season has been a generally miserable experience for opposing teams.

Plenty of teams tried and failed to crack the 40-point mark — even 30-point mark is tough — against the Redhawks. They press teams, their on-ball defense is solid and the help defense is fast and in the right place.

One team’s misery on one night has often been Bountiful’s delight.

After another stifling defensive performance that’s become a trademark, the Redhawks beat Provo 44-25 in the first round of the 5A state playoffs Tuesday night. They’ll host No. 15 Box Elder on Thursday night for the teams’ third meeting of the year.

Tuesday’s result is another step on the ladder for a Bountiful team who — with its top three leading scorers as a freshman and two juniors — swept Region 5, earned the No. 2 seed in the playoffs and has a 19-3 record.

“I honestly thought we’d be a good team (at the start of the year). To be where we’re sitting at, that wasn’t realistic to me at that time,” head coach Joel Burton. “As the season’s gone and the more I’ve seen these kids play for each other, it hasn’t surprised me that they’ve done what they have because they play so hard.”

Defense is obviously one reason for the team’s success. Bountiful now allows an average of 36.3 points per game after holding a team in the 20s for the fifth time this year.

On Tuesday, Bountiful showcased that by keeping the Bulldogs off the scoreboard for minutes at a time at a few different points of the game.

The Redhawks didn’t allow a Provo basket until the 2:12 mark of the first quarter (ironically after the student section chanted “Defense!” for the first time), and also held the Bulldogs off the scoreboard the first 4:13 of the second quarter.

“Our kids love playing together, they work really hard to go out and try to shut a team down, they take a lot of pride in it,” Burton said. “Myself and my coaching staff, that’s been a huge focus for us.

“First time we played (Provo), they put 53 points on us.”

Eventually, the first-half stops turned into a couple Bountiful fastbreaks, along with two 3-pointers (they average 2.4 made 3s per game) and a 21-10 lead at halftime.

The 21-10 lead turned into 31-12 after three quarters as the Redhawks imposed yet another minutes-long scoring drought on the Bulldogs.

Junior guard Lizzy McConkie led Bountiful’s scoring with 12 points and freshman Taylor Harvey scored seven points. Junior forward Jordyn Harvey, a recent addition to the team (she started the last two years), also scored seven points.

Bountiful has lived and thrived in low-scoring games all year. The Redhawks now average 48.7 points per game after Tuesday.

Three-quarters of the field goals they attempt are 2-pointers, either easy layups, tough baskets inside, turnaround jumpers, floaters, or offensive rebound putbacks and such.

“It’s more the skillset. We’re just better at getting to the rim and even our 3-pointers that we do take, most of them we got to the rim and it’s the kick-out 3,” Burton said.

That part of Bountiful’s identity — to shoot a bunch of 2-pointers and go inside — was challenged against Provo’s zone defense.

“We, at times, really struggle with the zone. That’s what Viewmont did to us, that’s what Northridge did to us here on Friday, I’m not right sure why we struggle like we do, to be honest,” Burton said.

The score was 7-5 after the first quarter and it was difficult to get easy looks around the rim all night. That’s where defense helped lift the Redhawks to a 19-point win.

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