Photos by Ray Hamill/HumboldtSports.com – The Hoopa boys played at St. Bernard’s last week.

By Ray Hamill — It’s been a season of adjusting for both Hoopa varsity basketball teams, but the Warriors still have plenty to play for down the stretch.

Each team is 1-2 in the Little 4 halfway through their conference schedules, and each remains well in the chase for a place in next month’s Dick Niclai tournaments.

The Hoopa boys (9-10 overall) find themselves in a three-way tie with South Fork and Ferndale, as they get set for a huge home showdown against the Cubs on Friday night, while the Hoopa girls (7-13) play at South Fork on Thursday night.

Girls head coach Floyd “Cowboy” Billings has the youngest team in the H-DNL this year and started four freshmen in a loss to St. Bernard’s late last week, but the coach believes the future is bright, and three years from now the Warriors should have the most experienced team in the H-DNL.

“I’ll tell you one thing, the girls that are starting, they’re ballers,” Billings said. “They’re legit, they’re just young. They’re getting experience at this level of basketball and our future is bright.”

Several of the younger players have impressed this winter as they adapt to the high school level, including point guard Jessie Moon.

“She doesn’t play like a freshman,” the coach said. “She’s the general of the team right now.”

Other newcomers who have impressed this year include Alyse Kelley, Shiah Murphy and Vuunsip E-Kor, who all started last week’s game along with Moon, as well as Luella Cosce and Honey Colegrove-Inong, each of whom have been giving the team valuable minutes off the bench.

Despite their struggles in recent weeks — the Hoopa girls have lost four of their five games in 2026 — the Warriors should get a win against a Cubs team that has struggled in terms of wins and losses this winter and is 0-3 in conference and 3-15 on the year.

That would likely secure at least third in the Little 4, while a win the following week at home against Ferndale could see the Warriors finish second and secure a home game in the opening round of the Dick Niclai tournament.

The Hoopa boys, meanwhile, feature a new head coach this season with the return of Inker McCovey, who was in charge of the program during its heyday in the early 2000s.

Like the girls team, the Hoopa boys have also dropped four of their last five games and have struggled to rediscover the form that saw them start 6-4.

Several injuries have not helped matters, but the team is getting healthy at the right time and McCovey is confident the Warriors can close out strong.

“I’m looking for a better performance running our offense and playing better defense,” the coach said. “One of our problems right now is we have a hard time communicating. Once we lock in on our defense again, we’ll get back on track. We were playing good defense early in the year.”

Wins over South Fork and Ferndale in their next two games — which would seem like a reasonable goal for the team — could see the Warriors finish as high as second in the Little 4 and get to host an opening round game in the Niclai tournament.

Several players have shown plenty of promise this winter, including seniors Malakai McCoy and Brian Richards, as well as Carlos Anzora, the latter of whom has been “playing hard” recently, according to the coach.

A pair of sophomores also have impressed recently.

Against St. Bernard’s last week, Ma-ninay Ferris finished with a team-high 13 points, including three 3-pointers, while Torin Billings added 10 points, including two 3s.

Mental mistakes, however, proved costly against the conference leaders and it’s something McCovey wants to see his players improve on down the stretch.

“Against Ferndale we had some moments, but we just made some really dumb turnovers,” he said. “We’ve just got to clean up our passing and do the little things.”

Right now, the Hoopa boys are ranked No. 17 in NCS Division 5, but a strong finish to the season could see them make the playoffs, and McCovey believes if they get there they can be a handful for any team they face.

“We’re one of those teams, you don’t want to play us,” he said.