SPRING LAKE — After a strong start to the season in non-conference play, the Fruitport girls basketball team hit a bump in the road in its O-K Blue opener at Spring Lake on Friday.

The Trojans, playing without two key rotation players, fell behind early and never got going in a 58-13 loss to the Lakers.

With a tough O-K Blue schedule awaiting the Trojans the rest of the season, head coach Brian Packard said his team will need to learn from Friday’s game.

“We have to take games like this as learning tools and keep moving forward,” he said. “We basically play a team like Spring Lake every Tuesday and Friday from here until the end of the season. Every team in our conference is that good.

“I think that’s a good learning experience for our girls. Going forward they’re going to know, to compete, the effort level has got to be there, attitude has to be there and just respond as a team.”

Fruitport is now 5-2 after Friday’s loss, while Spring Lake moves to 5-1. Despite the setback, Packard thinks his team, which has raised its expectations this season, will bounce back.

“This is a bump in the road, and there’s going to be lots of those,” he said. “They are a resilient group. They do a great job of battling every day in practice. They push each other. I think we’ve got brighter days ahead, for sure.”

Fruitport was without starter Grace Sweet and key reserve Lainey Bol due to holiday break vacations. Packard said both will be back for the team’s next game — a home matchup against Holland Christian on Tuesday.

Spring Lake started the game on a 13-0 run before the Trojans got on the board with 1:33 to play in the opening frame. The Lakers led 16-2 after one quarter.

The halftime score was 34-6 in favor of Spring Lake. The Lakers led 50-13 after three quarters before ending the game with an 8-0 run in the fourth.

Ashton Olson led Fruitport with six points.