FRUITPORT — Montague coach Jess DeBruin stresses doing little things to win big things. The Wildcats struggled to put together enough little things Wednesday night to beat Fruitport in the district semifinals, dropping a 44-33 decision to end their season.
Montague displayed mental toughness in the first half, managing to avoid letting early missed layups submarine the entire game. The Wildcats got some timely putbacks on offensive rebounds and cut a 9-2 second-quarter deficit to 20-16 by halftime. However, those early struggles ended up being tough to overcome as Fruitport beat back each of the Wildcat rallies.
“We came out sluggish,” DeBruin said. “I think we came out wanting it, but we didn’t bring it to the floor. We didn’t play team basketball like we know how to play. Mentally in the beginning, we kept missing our shots, those little layups that would have gone in any other time, they just wouldn’t fall, and I think that got to us in the beginning.”
Fruitport made a bid to pull away in the third quarter, but again Montague responded, getting as close as two points at 27-25. However, the Trojans got a bucket within seconds on the other end, and a pair of three-point plays by their freshman star, Isabel Hanson-Wilbur, kept Montague at bay. Hanson-Wilbur had a game-best 17 points.
Montague kept pushing to the final whistle, and had the tissues stuffed up two different girls’ noses to prove it, but just didn’t make the big plays necessary. Still, considering the coaching change late in the offseason and the reworked lineup, DeBruin said she was pleased with the growth of the team from November to March.
“We’ve had a huge amount of growth,” DeBruin said. “From the first scrimmage against Mason County until now, we’ve taken leaps and bounds. We’ve come together as a team...We didn’t get the big thing that we wanted but we got some big things out of it.”
Adilynn Peterson led Montague with 11 points, and Braylyn Bultema and Addison Pranger each chipped in eight. Bultema also had seven rebounds, as did Amanda Cederquist.
