Massapequa Chiefs point guard Suzi Fregosi and forward Ashley Caiafa are members of the Long Island Renegades 15-and-Under Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) girls basketball team that recently captured the Metropolitan Region crown for a berth in the 2005 national tournament in Clarksville, TN. The tournament begins July 20.

The Renegades will compete on the national stage for the second time in three years. In 2003, the team finished in the top 24 out of 96 participants in Dayton, OH.

The Renegades’ AAU basketball season, a series of tournaments with teams from Maine to Virginia, began in March, on the heels of the winter high school season. So far the team is 29-3, including a victory over the nation’s ninth-ranked U-15 team, the Connecticut Spirit. That win was all the more a confidence-booster, according to coach Lou Schiavetta, since it was a loss to the Spirit that eliminated the Renegades after their string of victories in the 2003 national tournament.

"This team has talent, no doubt," said Schiavetta, "but what separates them is the combination of hustle and teamwork the girls bring to every game. The players support each other and feed off each other’s determination."

Eleven players – ten rising juniors and one rising sophomore – will make the trip to Tennessee. They represent public and private schools from Westhampton to Locust Valley.

Fregosi and Caiafa are newcomers to the Renegades. The team is built around a nucleus that has been with the program four years or more: Northport’s Kiera Schiavetta; Jamie DiChiara, of King’s Park; Emily Edwards-Bourdrez, a Northport resident who plays for Portledge School in Locust Valley; and Commack’s Dana Kaplan and Brianne McDonnell.

Joining the Renegades along with Fregosi and Caiafa since their 2003 season are Bay Shore’s Latiqua Williams; Westhampton Beach’s Kelly Cavallo, a ninth grader this past year; Kristyn Dunleavy, who plays for The Stony Brook School and lives in East Setauket; and Eastport South Manor’s Sarah Vivonetto, a Manorville resident.

Fregosi, an All Long Island Second Team selection, and Caiafa, named All Conference, are among many Renegades who received high recognition for their high school basketball accomplishments this year. DiChiara, Cavallo, Vivonetto and Dunleavy received All Suffolk County honors, Williams and Schiavetta made All League, and Edwards-Bourdrez was voted Player of the Year in the Independent Private and Parochial School Athletic League (IPPSAL).