April 28th, 2006

Renaissance Wins
By Mark Gilliland and Michael Gracias

In a well-earned and hard-fought battle, the Renaissance Academy basketball team, known as the Hawks, although some refer to them as the Falcons, got their first official victory in a competition against another school on Friday, April 28th. This was also the first official game in the RA’s two young years of life.

The victorious Hawks defeated Miguel Leonis, a high school in West Hills, led by RA Coach Wyndy Flatto’s good friend, Nicole Rose, who also refereed the game along with former All-American Andrew Rivera. Both called the game fairly fairly and balanced.

Both teams showed great talent and played their hardest, with as much sportsmanship as they could muster, which made the game very exciting to watch. And if you were there, then you probably noticed that most of them were dead tired towards the end of the game, but driven on by the support they were getting from the crowd, teammates, and coaches.

With about 4 minutes to go, the Hawks were down by 4, with 21 points total, to the other team’s 25. Coach Wyndy put all the starters back on the floor, with the exception of Leo Castro, who did not start, as he has been absent the past week, and the team took back control of the game.

The Hawks held Leonis scoreless for the remainder of the game, going on a 6 point scoring run which turned out to be just enough for the W. A misfire inbounds with 10 seconds to go gave the other team a chance to tie it up and send it into overtime, but Leonis missed their last shot attempts due mainly to the aggressive and impeccable defense of the Renaissance Academy Hawks.

The game was revitalizing and refreshing for the entire school. We are now officialy winners. Some students ditched to catch the first half of the game, and who can blame them? As Ali Kellog said it, "Skipping chemistry to watch our little school rise from the ashes and pound the old men, and cheering them on, made my life seem more clear and meaningful."

While some of the teachers may have been a little annoyed, they couldn’t stay mad for too long, like Sheppard Stern, who uses crutches due to a recent Mammoth Mountain avalanche he managed to escape from with one ski. During the game, he said: “Half of my class cut to watch it, and the rest of the class couldnt concentrate on algebra while it was taking place, so I had to dismiss them all. Other than that, its very wonderful.”

There will be a rematch next Friday at the Miguel Leonis campus. The team will also be meeting the Mar Vista Park Senior League in West L.A., and are sure to continue to sell out at the box office of our hearts and inspire the entire Renaissance Academy community, at this time when basketball, in this reporter’s opinion, has grown to be the ultimate team sport, and probably the greatest sport of all time, both to play and watch.

Devereaux Lawshean, trys to get the ball to the post, where "Big Jonnhy" Stallings, dominates like a young Shaquille O'neal.



The bench and crowd watch from the sidelines; a good time was had by all.



Coach Wyndy Flatto drills her team to play harder, as the game comes to a close but successful end.