MONTAGUE – What’s this? The Fruitport girls basketball team has won three of its last four games, all by wide margins?

The same Trojans who lost their first eight games of the season, and back in December didn’t look they could beat anybody by double digits?

Well, the Trojans have come a long way since then, which they demonstrated again on Monday night with a dominant 46-22 victory over Oakridge in the first round of the Division 2 district tournament at Montague High School.

That victory followed a nice 60-44 win over Sparta last week in the final game of the regular season. And that followed a 52-11 victory over Kelloggsville back on Feb. 18.

Now the Trojans, 8-15 on the season, will try to keep their hot streak going on Wednesday with a rematch against archrival Spring Lake in the semifinal round at Montague.

They lost to the Lakers 70-38 in the third game of the season, but Fruitport looks like a much different team these days.

“We’ve done a better job of sticking to the game plan,” said Fruitport head coach Brian Packard. “We’ve been building all year, and we’ve been playing our best basketball in the last few weeks and turning things around a little bit.

“I think we knew what we were capable of from the beginning, but us coaches had to make some choices about what we’re trying to do on offense and defense, and once we stuck to those things we’ve been kind of turning the corner.

“Lainey Bol is always talking about having fun, having fun, and I am always talking about staying focused. I think we’ve been able to find a combination of those things. I think we’re getting there, finding that groove, having fun, playing hard and playing for each other.”

One thing that’s definitely improved for the Trojans is the number of players who produce points.

In a lot of games earlier this season, most of Fruitport’s points would come from sophomore standout Izzy Hanson-Wilbur, with a handful of buckets from other girls.

On Monday eight different Trojans recorded points. Hanson-Wilbur led the way with 16 points and fellow sophomore Lily Johnson added eight, followed by McKenzie Beardsley with six, Ava Powell and Bol with four apiece, Kenzie Pate and Alexa Sweet with three apiece and Kendall Lee with two.

The Trojans are feeling more confident about each other’s ability to put the ball in the hoop, and it’s showing.

“Izzy probably had four or five assists tonight, and earlier this season she would have taken those shots herself instead of making the passes,” Packard said. “Now we’re seeing something different. We don’t want one girl scoring 40 points and us losing by six. That’s not good basketball. Izzy is going to get her 15-20 points per game, and we have some other pieces, as well.”

Fruitport actually came out looking like the Trojans of old on Monday, at least in the beginning. They had four turnovers in the first four minutes, before making a few shots and grabbing the lead for good.

Hanson-Wilbur scored eight points in the first quarter, and the Trojans had a 12-7 lead at the first buzzer.

Fruitport scored another 12 points in the second quarter, with Johnson and Sweet both tossing in a triple. The defense also clamped down, holding the Eagles to three points, and the Trojans led 24-10 at halftime.

Fruitport had a 13-6 advantage in the third quarter, with five different players scoring, and led 37-16 headed into the fourth.

The Trojans emptied their bench in the final quarter en route to the victory that kept their season alive for at least one more game.