FRUITPORT – Big growth can come from disappointments.

It all depends on how the individual reacts to those disappointments.

Talented freshman Isabel “Izzy” Hanson-Wilbur has been having a great first year with the Fruitport girls basketball team, helping the Trojans get off to a strong start.

But the team had an ugly outing against rival Spring Lake last Friday, falling 58-13. Nobody on the Fruitport squad scored more than six points.

Trojans head coach Brian Packard wondered how such a loss would impact the ninth-grader.

“I’m curious to see how she bounces back from a disappointing loss,” Packard said earlier this week. “She was pretty frustrated, so now that we’re in conference play, I think she’s going to realize where she needs to be, where she needs to grow.

“It ticks her off and she wants to get better, so the team gets better. She’s not concerned about herself. She does a good job of being team-first, which is crucial for us.”

Hanson-Wilbur responded to her disappointment by having a season-best night on Tuesday, leading the Trojans with 19 points and four steals against Holland Christian.

She’s had quite a few games like that so far this season. She led the Trojans with 13 points in a close loss to Whitehall. She led the team with 14 points, seven rebounds and three steals in a win over Montague.

More than anything, Hanson-Wilbur has blended well with the older Trojans, helping the team start the season with a 5-1 record before losing two O-K Blue conference games this week.

Fruitport only won four games all of last season, so the progress is undeniable.

“I feel like we’re getting a lot more confident in how we play,” Hanson-Wilbur said. “We have one more win than we had last year already at the beginning of the season, which is good.”

Hanson-Wilbur, who starts and is in the top three on the squad in court time, doesn’t have much to say about her personal accomplishments, preferring to keep the focus on the team.

“Our defense is getting a lot better,” Hanson-Wilbur said. “We’ve been working on that a lot.”

Coach Packard doesn’t mind talking about how much she has brought to the table for the Trojans, particularly in the speed department.

“Fruitport hasn’t really had an athlete that’s as fast as she is,” he said. “Her overall speed is just … fast.”

Hanson-Wilbur knows it can be a challenge for younger players who move up to varsity to mix in with older teammates, but she says she has a good relationship with the upperclassmen.

“Every moment has been fun and I’ve enjoyed playing on varsity with these girls, especially the seniors,” she said. ”They’re going to be missed a lot and it’s going to be hard without them next year.”

Hudson Hazekamp

The Fruitport boys coaching staff challenges its players to hit a certain number of shots every offseason, and Hazekamp, an incoming freshman, made the most of anybody on the team.

He also pretty much lives in the gym, well beyond game or practice times.

All of that kind of explains why he’s so good so soon.

“I’m always in the gym,” Hazekamp said. “Any time I can get in, or any of the coaches let me know the gym’s open, I’m always there. I usually get a couple friends and get some shots up.”

That kind of commitment from a ninth-grader has earned the respect of the older Trojans, according to head coach Steve Erny.

“He’s the freshman on the varsity, so there’s some fun-loving jabs that go on with him being that,” Erny said. “But our seniors and the upperclassmen, they all love Hudson. I don’t think anyone on this team has any doubt that he belongs with us.”

Hazekamp, already standing over six feet tall, is the sixth man for the Trojans, and started one game so far this year.

He’s averaging 9.1 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game, which helped the Trojans get off to a 4-2 start this season, before three recent losses slowed them down a bit.

He’s the team’s leading three-point shooter at 38 percent and is hitting 66 percent of his shots from the free-throw line.

He led the team with 12 points in his first varsity game against Western Michigan Christian. He was also the team’s leading scorer against Fremont with 15 points, all coming on three-pointers.

In Fruitport’s buzzer-beater win over Comstock Park, Hazekamp was the second-leading scorer with 13 points and hit crucial shots down the stretch to keep the Trojans in the game.

“He doesn’t seem like he’s in a hurry when he’s out there,” Erny said. “Some kids, when the game’s moving too fast for them, they look like they’re always in a hurry.”

Hazekamp thinks he has adjusted well to the varsity game, and is eager to help his team get past its current three-game losing streak.

“Individually, I feel like I’ve been holding my ground for sure,” Hazekamp said. “As a team, it’s been a little bit disappointing so far. We just haven’t gotten the results that we wanted to get, but I think we could easily get that back on track.”

Erny said he wants Hazekamp to keep adjusting to the speed of varsity, moving without the ball on offense and learning more defensive principles.

Based on what the team has seen so far from the freshman, that will be no issue.

“We need him to be aggressive on offense, we need him to take care of the basketball and grow defensively, and we need him to continue to grow in the physicality of the game,” Erny said. “I think the sky is the limit for him.”