MONTAGUE – Experience means a lot in high school sports, and the Fruitport girls basketball team started the season on Friday night with a deficit in that department.

The Trojans, who return only one starter from last season, fell behind after one quarter, battled back, but couldn’t keep pace down the stretch and fell 49-34 to Montague on the road.

It was a departure from last season, when Fruitport beat Montague twice, including an 11-point victory in the district semifinals.

“Not having experience was going to be an uphill battle for us,” said Fruitport head coach Brian Packard, who noted that Montague returned eight seniors to its team this year. “Of our (starting) five, only two of them kind of started occasionally. So we just don’t have the in-game experience.”

On the bright side, the Trojans displayed some decent defense, particularly in the second quarter, when they pulled within three points, and the third, when they pulled within six.

“We are going to struggle to score points at times, but once we figure out this defense we are going to be okay,” Packard said.

Fruitport also got a nice performance from sophomore standout Izabel Hanson-Wilbur, who finished with a team-high 17 points, including 12 in the first half.

“We depend on her, and we know that a lot is on her shoulders,” Packard said. “I also know that there is no girl in West Michigan that can do the things that she can do on the court.”

The Wildcats scored the first five points of the game and led 12-4 at the end of the first quarter.

The Trojans came out in the second quarter with a little stiffer defensive lineup, and was able to score the first four points.

They cut their deficit to 15-12 with two minutes remaining in the half, but Montague recovered and was able to stretch the lead to 28-18 at halftime.

Neither team was able to score for the first part of the third quarter. The drought finally ended when Fruitport’s Lainey Bol bit a bucket with 3:30 remaining.

Trojan sophomore Lily Johnson downed a three-pointer with 1:55 left to cut Fruitport’s deficit to six, but again Montague responded and led 37-27 heading into the fourth quarter.

The fourth quarter was all Montague, with the Wildcats outscoring the Trojans 12-7 and nailing down the victory.

Kenzie Pate scored six points for Fruitport.

Fruitport will host Whitehall in another non-conference game on Tuesday.