It may sound like a contradiction in terms to say that a sophomore is one of the most experienced players on the Weedsport Warriors, but in the case of Kaitlin Hammersley, it would be hard to find a more fitting term to describe the team's co-captain.

“She is just a tremendous basketball player,” Warriors coach Chris Vargason said. #“She puts a lot of time into her game, for her it is year round with AAU, camps, private lessons, she is just a very talented and dedicated player.#”

Hammersley, 16, first got interested in the game as second grader, when her family moved back to the Weedsport area from Florida.

“I was just looking for something to do,” Hammersley said. ” I was looking for something different. There were no girls' teams, so I played CCYO. Girls mature faster than boys, so I was the tallest on the team. My mom (Chris) was the JV coach then and I'd go to all their practices and stuff. I just really loved the game.”

By the time she was in sixth grade, Hammersley was a member of the JV squad and got the call up to varsity as an eighth grader.

“I felt really honored,” Hammersley said. “I was pretty young and it was really cool to get the opportunity to play on varsity.”

In Hammersley's two previous seasons, the Warriors have been making an impression with increasingly strong finishes and more and more victories to tally up in the wins column.

But for Hammersley that has been a combination of factors.

“I think we were 13-7 my first year and 13-8 last year,” Hammersley said. “We've definitely been winning more than we have been losing. It feels great that we have been doing so well. But there is no ‘I' in team and that is what all of this is about, we have been doing a lot of hard work as a team.”

This season, the Warriors are in good shape, 6-3 overall, and Hammersley has been at the forefront of that success.

With 127 points, 71 rebounds, 28 assists and 12 blocks, Hammersley has certainly been a key factor in the team's success.

“She has been leading our offense,” Vargason said.“She rebounds, she gets the assists. She has been big for us. She can get out there and make things happen, offensively, defensively, she can make good things happen.”

While Hammersley takes her accomplishments in stride, she is certainly proud to be a contributing factor on the team.

“It feels good,” Hammersley said.“I just keep trying to improve all the time and I try to keep everybody encouraged and to find ways to help the coach and make what he wants to do work for the team.”

When she does have time away from the regular season, Hammersley is never too far from a game.

Hammersley is a fixture at various camps and programs at places like Colgate and Hamilton and she recently made the move to the coaching side of things at a camp in Seneca Falls.

“I really enjoyed that,” Hammersley said.“My little sister Brooke, she's six, was in that. I got her started young. She really seemed to enjoy it and I had a lot of fun too.”

But right now, Hammersley and the rest of the Warriors are focused on making another strong showing this season, with 11 league games coming down the stretch.

“We have some big expectations for ourselves,” Hammersley said.“We want to win the league; we'd like to win sectionals. That would be cool. I'd definitely like to be a part of that by the time I'm a senior and I think we have a good team and what we need to make that happen.”