FRUITPORT- Progress isn’t always a straight line. There are going to be bumps in the road.

However, the story is never about the bump, it’s about how you respond to it.

The Fruitport girls basketball team experienced a big bump on Tuesday night when they hosted Allendale with a prime chance to improve their winning record and take their first O-K Blue conference victory of the season.

Unfortunately for Fruitport, Allendale had other plans. A tough shooting performance and a stout Falcon defense made life hard for the Trojans all night long, as Fruitport struggled to get shots up. With no scoring troubles of its own, Allendale cruised to a 53-12 victory.

The Trojans didn’t get on the board until a Mikayla Belasco free throw with 50 seconds left in the first quarter made it a 20-1 game. Another pair of free throws by Grace Sweet made the score 30-3 at halftime, as the Trojans struggled to penetrate the Falcons’ defense and generate energy.

The second half included the Trojans’ first field goals of the game, but the score didn’t get any closer.

Despite the disappointing loss, the season rolls on. The Trojans are still rebuilding after last season’s 1-20 record, and there’s hope within the program that as bad as this loss stung, the team will be better for it.

Fruitport fell to 4-5 overall and 0-2 in conference play. They’ll look to turn it around on Friday against Coopersville, the start of a three-game road stretch.

“We work really hard in practice, so when you lay an egg you have to get back at it,” said Fruitport coach Brian Packard. “Hopefully they’ll all be pissed off at practice, and we just have to get back after it.

“I think we’ve got some pieces here, we just have to put them all together. We haven’t played a full game well yet. A couple good quarters, but we haven’t played 32 solid minutes of basketball yet.”

Grace Sweet and Auebre Johnson led the Trojans in scoring with four points apiece.

Allendale’s well-rounded attack was led by Ava Buhlman’s 10-point performance. Sami Harris added eight points and the trio of Kenedie Curtis, Addi VanKoevering and Lexi Ashbay all posted seven.

Allendale improved to 3-6 overall and 1-1 in the O-K Blue.

“Coming in with only two wins, tonight’s goal was just to execute what we knew,” said Allendale coach Joel Brose. “We played more loose, our girls hit some shots and we were able to play our game.”