MONTAGUE – The Fruitport girls basketball team can go into the offseason very proud of the fact that they never quit.
They never quit on their season, despite starting out 0-8. And they never quit in their final game on Wednesday night, despite only scoring one point in the first quarter and trailing by 13 points after three.
In fact, the Trojans were in a perfect spot to pull of a huge upset of rival Spring Lake in the semifinal round of the Division 2 district tournament at Montague High School.
The Lakers hit a layup with 4:53 remaining in the game to take a 36-25 lead, but the Trojans turned up the defensive heat after that, and Spring Lake was stuck at 36 points for the rest of the game.
[1]That left the door wide open for the Trojans, but an old problem that’s been cursing them all season – turnovers – reared its ugly head again at the worst possible time. Fruitport coughed the ball up five times in the final three minutes and ended up falling 36-28.
“Really untimely ones,” said Fruitport head coach Brian Packard about the late turnover spree. “It’s something we’ve been working on all year, but we had girls who were trying to make something happen, so they forced it a little bit.”
Despite the loss, there’s no way anyone can call the Trojans’ season a disappointment, at least when judged in its entirety.
They started out 0-8, losing every game before the O-K Silver conference season began. But then they started to win a few, gained a lot of confidence and composure, and wrapped up the season with an 8-16 record.
[2]That means the Trojans went 8-8 after their horrible start, something very few probably expected them to do.
One very good illustration of their improvement came in the two games against Spring Lake this season. The Trojans lost to the Lakers 70-38 back on Dec. 13, then only lost by eight on Wednesday.
That tells everything about a struggling team that kept battling and improving, even during the darkest times of the season.
“Every aspect of the game we improved on, all season long,” Packard said. “It was really fun to watch. Of course you always have goals in mind, like maybe win the conference, maybe win a district, but the underlying thing always was, did we get a little bit better today? Over 3 1/2 months of basketball, there were only a handful of days where we did not get better.
[3]“I am proud of these girls. They battled all year. They stepped up and kept listening and learning and understanding. You can’t ever be disappointed when the players leave everything they have on the court, and these girls did that.”
Wednesday’s game mirrored the Trojans’ season in a lot of ways.
They got off to a horrible start offensively, largely due to a Spring Lake’s tough interior defense that made it difficult for Fruitport to drive to the net and get clean shots.
The Trojans were 0-for-12 from the floor in the first quarter, and only scored one point on a free throw that came with 14 seconds left.
[4]Luckily Fruitport’s defense played well, keeping the Lakers from taking full advantage, and the Trojans only trailed 10-1 heading into the second.
The second quarter was very quiet for both teams, with the Trojans outscoring the Lakers 5-3 and trailing 13-6 at halftime.
The scoring pace picked up in the third quarter. Kenzie Pate hit a triple about 30 seconds into the half, putting Fruitport within three at 13-9, but Spring Lake answered with an 8-0 run, had a 19-13 advantage in the quarter to held a 32-19 lead headed into the fourth.
Izzy Hanson-Wilbur and Lainey Bol also hit three-pointers for Fruitport in the third quarter.
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Pate and Lily Johnson both hit threes for the Trojans in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the fourth. and Hanson-Wilbur added a layup with 4:35 remaining, leaving Fruitport trailing 36-27.
Both offenses went quiet after that, with Fruitport getting the only point down the stretch with a single free throw. Spring Lake had six turnovers in the final three minutes, but the Trojans had five, which kept them from capitalizing on their final opportunity.
Hanson-Wilbur finished with 10 points for Fruitport. Pate totaled nine, all on triples, while Bol finished with five points and Johnson had three.
“It was a really good game,” Packard said. “We got them to turn the ball over at the end of the game, but we just couldn’t convert on our end. But we could have easily just shut down after the first quarter that we had, and the girls did not do that. I am proud of that, for sure.”
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