Eagles soar to new heights

Juan Fava already had high expectations for this season, but one trip to the Academy of American Studies schoolyard in early September elevated them even further.
The girls basketball coach at the small Long Island City vocational school took in a spectacular performance. One player was dominating, dribbling through and around everyone else, swishing jumpers and finishing at the rim with a flourish.
“There was this little girl whipping all the boys,” he recalled.
That little girl was freshman Diani Mason.
Fava, always on the lookout for new talent, asked her to try out. Mason, a talented guard from Woodside who initially intended to attend Brooklyn Catholic school Bishop Loughlin, obliged. She was added to an already deep pool of talented players that went 12-0 in Queens B-2 last season before bowing out in the PSAL Class B quarterfinals.
Together, the Eagles have dominated the borough, going 14-0 in the division while winning by an average margin of 40 points, and knocking off five other division leaders in non-league contests en route to an unblemished 26-0 regular season.
American Studies has such depth that Mason has started just three games. She is second in scoring, at 15 points per game, behind sophomore center Crystal James (21 PPG, 10 RPG). Junior point guard Kaitlin Fitzgerald averages nine points and four assists per game and junior wing Raquel Gutierrez is scoring eight points per game and grabbing five rebounds.
It is on the other end of the court where the Eagles thrive. They press and trap for 32 minutes, running a track meet the moment the ball is thrown up for the opening tip.
“Our game is setting the tempo, making teams play at our pace and defending the hell out of the ball,” said Fava, who also coaches volleyball at American Studies and formerly headed up the boys basketball program. “Everything comes from our defense. We rebound and go. When we struggle in quarters, we’re not moving our feet, not rebounding and not really running.”
That has been infrequent. Last year’s two-point postseason loss to Campus Magnet, a game in which the Eagles had the “deer in the headlights look,” Fava said, and missed 18 free throws, has reminded them to remain focused.
“This season we don’t want to have any regrets,” Gutierrez said. “We don’t want to lose in the playoffs again. We want to take it all the way.”
Rarely has American Studies overlooked an opponent, even though their closest victory margin in league was their regular season finale, a 49-24 throttling of Information Technology, and are holding the opposition to an average of 36 points per game. That tenacious defense has almost forced the Eagles to remain alert.
“When you’re focus is defense, there is always something that you can work on,” Fava said. “We’ve stayed grounded because we’re a defense-first team.”
No matter the opponent, “we still push, push, push,” Mason said. “We don’t go down to their level.”
They have one another to thank, too. American Studies is a close-knit unit, made up of a large group of friends. They eat lunch together and help one another with their homework. They spend time outside of school, going to the movies or the mall. They talk online when they are not alongside each other.
“We’re a big family,” Gutierrez said. “We’re a big puzzle that fits perfectly. We do everything together.”
The team chemistry was not built over the long haul. Half of this year’s roster is new. There are just two seniors, reserve Victoria Drake and starting guard Yessenia Mejia. “You get goose bumps when you think about that,” Fava said.
When Mason joined the team, she was welcomed with open arms. James, after all, knew what it was like to join an established team as a talented freshman.
When she entered the school, James dominated the boys in the schoolyard. Therefore, when Mason was the new hotshot, everybody wanted to see them play. They never did go one-on-one.
In fact, the two are not on the court at the same time often. Fava uses Mason as his sparkplug off the bench, the way the great Detroit Pistons teams of the late 1980’s utilized Vinnie “the Microwave” Johnson.
“That’s what I kind of thought about her - if she comes off the bench against a team’s second unit, she’s going to light them up like a microwave,” the coach said.
Altogether, Fava and the Eagles are getting American Studies’ name out there. A few years ago, Gutierrez said, other players she came across did not even know the school existed. Now, the response is far more complimentary.
“They’re like: ‘Oh, you’re that small school that wins a lot of games,’ ” she said.
“It’s been a lot of work getting people really excited about our team; we have a handful of fans that are very loyal,” Fava said. “Our school is very tiny, we’re an academic school not an athletic school. I am trying to change that. I’m trying to make people understand how important athletics are to a school.”