Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – Head coach Floyd “Cowboy” Billings talks to his players during a timeout at last week’s Arcata tournament.

By Ray Hamill — The Hoopa Warriors will be hoping to add to their win tally in girls basketball when they travel to play Fortuna on Tuesday night.

The Warriors are 1-6 on the season after enduring a tough early-season schedule that has included five matchups against Big 5 teams.

The Warriors dropped two games at the Trinity Holiday Classic tournament this weekend, falling 43-39 to Redding Christian and also losing to Fort Bragg.

But injuries and sickness have taken their toll on the team over the first few weeks and head coach Floyd “Cowboy” Billings believes his team is headed in the right direction and will benefit from the tough early schedule when league begins in the new year, especially when the influential Tashee Tracy returns to full health.

“Once we get her back with Tatianna (Colegrove) and Harmony (Nelson), we should be a force to be reckoned with,” the head coach said. 

Colegrove, as expected, has been a team leader and is playing a huge role, averaging just under 20 points a game, while Harmony is one of three standout sophomores who are playing key roles on this year’s team, along with Millennia McKinley and Ivy Lamebear.

Billings says his sophomores are “playing good ball and are going to be assets for us when league starts.”

Nelson is averaging around 15 points a game and Lamebear is averaging around 12 points.

The team’s lone victory so far came against Fortuna at the Arcata tournament a week ago and Billings and his players will be hoping to beat the Huskies again in Fortuna on Tuesday night.

Tip off is set for 7:30 p.m.