FRUITPORT – The Fruitport girls basketball team showed resilience and real flashes of growth on Tuesday night, but inconsistency down the stretch, and some cold free-throw shooting, proved costly in a 54-50 overtime loss to Belding in an O-K Silver conference matchup at home.

Playing without injured leading scorer Izzy Hanson-Wilbur, the Trojans displayed a balanced offense and a lot of grit. But in the end it was a continuation of an up-and-down season, when Fruitport gets it done on some nights but falls short on others.

The Trojans are now 5-7 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Their longest winning streak has been two games and their longest losing streak has been three.

Fruitport head coach Brian Packard pointed to turnovers and late-game decision-making as problem areas that continue to determine too many outcomes.

“We have to limit those stretches where we turn the ball over three or four possessions in a row,” Packard said. “Turnovers are part of the game, but for us, they tend to come at crucial moments.”

However, Packard was impressed with the team’s effort, particularly playing without Hanson-Wilbur, who suffered her second ankle injury of the season at practice on Monday.

“I was happy with the battle,” Packard said. “We never really gave up, even after that last three in the corner that almost sent it to double overtime. These are the types of competitive games that haven’t always happened here, so to be in them every night is a good place to be.

“These girls worked their butts off and had us in a position to win. Lots of girls stepped up.”

Fruitport opened the night with an aggressive and patient offensive approach. The Trojans knocked down two early 3-pointers, used a disciplined 2–3 zone to control the tempo defensively, and led 14-7 after one quarter.

Lily Johnson led the Trojans with five points in the first.

A spate of turnovers kept the Trojans from pulling away in the second quarter, but they still led 23-17 at halftime. Ava Powell had four points for Fruitport in the second.

Momentum shifted early in the second half when Belding opened with a quick 6-0 run to tie the game 23-23. Missed free-throws and ball security issues began to haunt the Trojans, who were outscored 16-8 in the third quarter and trailed 33-31 heading into the fourth.

The final quarter went right down to the wire. With under 20 seconds remaining, Fruitport’s Cierra Fri converted a crucial and-one layup to tie the game. After a Belding turnover, Johnson calmly sank two free throws with 7.3 seconds left to give Fruitport a late 43-42 lead.

Belding answered at the line with 2.2 seconds remaining, splitting two free throws to force overtime at 43-43.

Belding gained a final advantage by outscoring the Trojans 7-3 from the line in the extra quarter. The Trojans missed a pair of late three-point attempts, then ran out of time.

Overall the Black Knights were 17-for-28 in free throws while Fruitport was 12-for-29.

Regan Wilson led Fruitport with 11 points before fouling out, Fri and Kya Tawney each had 10, Powell added seven and Johnson chipped in six.