FRUITPORT –  The Fruitport girls basketball team came into Tuesday night’s home contest against Hopkins on a hot streak, having won its previous two games, against Comstock Park and Kelloggsville.

But the Trojans are still a developing team, and developing teams can be inconsistent.

That showed in the Trojans’ 45-19 loss to Hopkins in a home O-K Silver conference matchup.

Fruitport head coach Brian Packard was pleased with his team’s defensive effort, and said the trouble was on the offensive end.

“We do some good things, we defend well, we only gave up 45 tonight, which is still a pretty good defensive effort,” Packard said. “We struggle with scoring at times.”

With just nine points in the second half, including zero in the third quarter, the Trojans recorded their second-lowest scoring effort of the season against a stifling Hopkins defense.

“We just have to play for each other and do the right things,” Packard said. “We just need to keep fighting and moving in the right direction.”

The Trojans started the game with a quick 6-0 scoring run that gave them early momentum. Ava Powell and Kenzie Pate both hit early triples for Fruitport.

The lead would soon be diminished by Hopkins senior Isabella Laskowski, who scored six of Hopkins’ first eight points and helped the visitors grab an 8-6 lead at the first buzzer.

The Vikings took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Trojans 15-4, with nine points coming from the free-throw line.

Outside of Lily Johnson’s three-pointer, Fruitport was unable to muster up much scoring in the second quarter, and Hopkins took a 23-10 advantage to halftime.

Neither team scored much in the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second half, until Hopkins junior Cora Hall put two layups through the net. The Vikings took advantage of Fruitport’s offensive struggles, outscoring them 13-0 in the third.

Hopkins’ Kelsey Burgess landed an “and-one” play early in the fourth quarter, which put the nail in the coffin for the Trojans, Johnson, a bright spot for Fruitport on Tuesday night, scored five of her eight points in the final eight minutes.

Ava Powell followed Johnson on the Trojan stat sheet with seven points.

Fruitport, now 4-12 on the season, will visit NorthPointe Christian on Friday.