FRUITPORT – The Fruitport girls basketball team is a work in progress, and there are positive signs for the future.

One was obvious on Friday – the performance of junior Grace Sweet, who pumped in a game-high 16 points, including three triples, in a home O-K Blue conference matchup against Coopersville.

Unfortunately for Fruitport, the outcome of the game was all too familiar. After a promising start. the Trojans fell behind in the second quarter, never recovered and lost to the Broncos 46-32.

The loss was the 11^th in a row for Fruitport, which has not won a game since Jan. 3.

The bad outcomes have been against conference competition – the Trojans are 0-10 in the Blue – and came after a promising start, which included four wins in the first seven games of the season.

The good part is that the girls are continuing to battle, game after game, according to first-year head coach Brian Packard.

“We know our conference is a tough conference, maybe the toughest conference in Michigan,” Packard said. “We realize where we’re at. The girls buy in at practice and compete hard and learn every day.

“They want to win. They want to get better. Our goal is to win a district tournament game. Coopersville is a good team, but we compete with them and two or three other teams in the conference relatively well. If we had 10 fewer turnovers tonight maybe it’s a different basketball game.”

Turnovers do seem to be the major problem for the Trojans. One unofficial count had them at 28 on Friday, which is pretty close to average, according to Packard.

“We average about 30 turnovers a game, and they are not the smartest turnovers,” the coach said. “Lots of times we’re throwing it out of bounds or handing the ball to the other team. It’s tough to recover from stuff like that.

“We work every day in practice on ball security and making smart decisions. I feel like we’re getting there, but it’s a long road.”

One positive note is that the Trojans are young, with six juniors and three sophomores on the roster, so a lot of players will be back next season to apply what they have learned this time around.

One of them is Sweet, who managed to generate some offense on Friday despite the lack of a consistent team attack.

She scored eight points in the first quarter, helping the Trojans battle to an 11-11 tie at the first buzzer.

She didn’t score in the second quarter, and it was no coincidence that Coopersville had an 11-4 advantage and led 22-15 at halftime.

Sweet had five points in the third quarter, including her second three-pointer, while Olive Stahl also nailed a triple for the Trojans, who trailed 33-23 heading in the fourth.

Sweet hit her final three-pointer in the fourth quarter, when the Trojans were outscored 13-9.

She said she’s been working on shooting the ball faster, rather than giving defenders time to collapse on her, and it worked out well against Coopersville.

“I don’t want the defense to close down on me, which I was used to in the past, so I’m trying to move quick,” Sweet said. “I struggled a little, missed a few and had an airball, but you just have to keep shooting. Eventually some of them fall.”

Aubre Johnson finished with five points for Fruitport while Kadence Springstead, Ash Olson, Jorja Blackmer and Rhiannon Raleigh also registered points for the Trojans.