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The Fortuna Huskies took full advantage of a bye in conference play on the opening night of the Big 5 with a pair of wins on Tuesday night.

The Fortuna boys welcomed Hoopa to the Friendly City and got a much-needed victory ahead of conference play, defeating the Warriors 56-52, while the school’s girls team made the short trip to Ferndale and beat the Wildcats 45-30.

The Huskies started strong against Hoopa, opening up a 16-7 lead after the opening quarter, and they withstood a late rally by the visitors to hold on for the four-point win.

With the victory, they improved to 6-10 as they get set to tip off their Big 5 campaign with a challenging trip to play Arcata on Thursday night.

Jack Stacy scored a team-high 13 points for the home team while Gavin Mayberry added 12 points, including a big dunk in the fourth quarter to help keep the visitors at bay.

Rawland Bones also had 12 points in the win, while teammate Kye Hawthorne chipped in seven points.

Malakai McCoy scored a game-high 16 points for the Hoopa boys, who were playing for the first time in over two weeks.

Dylan Moon added 11 points and Brian Richards chipped in 10 points.

The Warriors kept themselves in the game with some pinpoint shooting from downtown and finished with 11 3-pointers on the night.

Turnovers continued to be a problem for the Huskies, who have underwhelmed through the first half of the season.

“Hoopa won more 50-50 balls, which is an area we have to be better at,” Fortuna head coach Norm Sotomayor said. “Just when we would get a lead we would give up a 3 or offensive put-back. We will have to be better Thursday against a good Arcata team.”

With the loss, the Hoopa boys dropped to 8-8, as they get set to open the Little 4 at South Fork on Thursday.

The Fortuna girls, meanwhile, got the better of a Ferndale team that came into the game ranked just one spot behind their neighbors in the North Coast Section at No. 23.

The Huskies have been one of the most impressive teams in the H-DNL through the first half of the season.

Tuesday’s win was their seventh straight, as they improved to 13-3.

Freshman Kaleya Parkinson led a balanced Fortuna offensive performance and scored a team-high nine points, while Macee Marquez added eight points and Taylor Heussler scored seven.

Olivia Powell and Jaydyn Dalton each also scored six points in the win.

But once again, it was the team defense that helped set the tone, as they held the Wildcats to a season-low in points.

“The team did a great job defensively limiting Ferndale’s offense,” Fortuna head coach Tom Chapman said.

In particular, Dalton, Heussler, Marquez and Olivia Scilacci “played tough defense for 32 minutes,” according to the coach.

“We did a great job rebounding the ball and not giving Ferndale second-chance points,” Chapman added. “Our shots were not falling initially, but we came out in the third quarter energized and created some turnovers that resulted in points.”

The Huskies outscored the Wildcats 14-4 in the third quarter, holding the Ferndale girls to just one field goal for the period, and they led by 17 going into the fourth.

Michaela Ellsmore scored a game-high 15 points for Ferndale, which dropped to 11-6 with the loss.

Tinnley Pidgeon added six points for the Little 4 school.

“We didn’t make them work hard enough on defense,” Ferndale head coach Chris Ardrey said. “We got tired at the end and started to force things up.”

Twenty turnovers didn’t help matters for the home team.

The Cats, however, did play well defensively, an aspect of their game that has impressed this winter

Both teams will tip off conference play with tough matchups on Friday night.

The Huskies will host Big 5 champs Arcata, while the Wildcats will travel to play defending Little 4 champs St. Bernard’s.