The good news is that the Fruitport girls basketball team is almost out of the O-K Blue conference woods.

That means the schedule will get easier in the last few games of the regular season and in districts, with no teams quite like Grand Rapids West Catholic lurking on the horizon.

Fruitport put up a battle for one quarter on Tuesday, then fell to first-place West Catholic 45-19.

The Trojans fell to 5-14 overall and 0-13 against O-K Blue competition. West Catholic improved to 18-1 and 12-0.

The game was tied 8-8 after one quarter, then West Catholic pulled away, leading 27-9 at halftime and 39-14 headed into the fourth quarter.

Fruitport Coach Brian Packard was happy with the first quarter effort.

“West Catholic is very skilled at every position, and we started off the game with a bang,” Packard said. “We played well and our defense carried us.

“We have been talking lately about stepping-stones and using them to get us where we want to be. Tonight was a stepping-stone. Our turnovers dropped, we gave up fewer points and we communicated on defense better.”

Ashton Olson and Izzy Hanson-Wilbur each scored seven points for Fruitport. Rhiannon Raleigh and Jorja Blackmer each grabbed four rebounds while MacKenzie Beardsley added four assists and three rebounds.

The Trojans will host Hamilton on Friday in their final O-K Blue game of the season.