By Ray Hamill — This year’s Hoopa girls basketball team is young, quick, scrappy and playing beyond its years.

Over the weekend the Warriors traveled for the Gene Cotter Memorial tournament at South Fork High and turned in one of their most impressive performances of the young season as they continue to build confidence and momentum ahead of conference play in the new year.

The Warriors opened with a victory over Willits, before dropping their second game against Upper Lake 41-33 and then closing out with a dominating 79-24 victory over Point Arena.

With the two tournament wins, the Warriors improved to 5-9 on the season.

And while he admits this is a team that is still a work in progress, head coach Floyd “Cowboy” Billings has reason to like a lot of what he’s seeing thus far.

“We’ve been doing alright,” Billings said. “We’re pretty young. We’re kind of rebuilding.

“The freshmen are coming along. They’re getting stronger each game.”

This year’s Hoopa roster features just three returning players from a year ago — third-year senior Wau’Kel Blake and juniors Marley Tracy and Chloe King — along with five freshmen and a sophomore.

But the young players are embracing the challenge and are steadily improving.

Through the early going, the Warriors have been playing some outstanding defense and challenging more experience opponents.

Two of their losses have come against Big 5 schools Del Norte and McKinleyville by just three and two points, respectively, and the team defense has been particularly impressive.

“Our defense is what’s keeping us in games,” Billings said. “Our offense is not there yet. I’m trying to get them to shoot more instead of relying on one player.”

The players appear to be heeding the message.

Saturday’s win over Point Arena, which was the teams’ second over the Pirates this season, featured a season-high in points and should give the team offense a spark moving forward.

Two of the newcomers on this year’s team — Alyse Kelley and Jessie Moon — are starting along with the three returners, and both are adapting quickly to the high school level.

Asked what he liked the most about his team so far this season, Billings responded without hesitation.

“Just how well we’re playing at such a young age,” the longtime coach said. “What’s impressed me is they’re ballers. They don’t give up. We’ve never been blown out.”

Freshmen Vuunship E-Kor, Honey Colegrove-Inong and Shiah Murphy each also have impressed at times early in the new season, as has sophomore Carmen Pratt.

But it’s the three experienced players that have been setting the tone.

“They’re the ones we lean on,” the coach said of Blake, Tracy and King. “They’re leading the way for us.”

The Hoopa players are taking a break from practice this week to recharge the batteries after a busy few weeks, but they will be back in action at the Cottonwood tournament to start the new year.

They will then tip off what is expected to be a competitive Little 4 at home against South Fork on Jan. 9.