Junior Mary-Clare Bosco was in total shock when she received a phone call, Sept. 29, telling her she had just been nominated as an honoree for the House of Hoops Gamechanger Award.

The caller then asked for her basketball statistics, GPA, and other extracurricular activities. Immediately, Bosco was told she was one of the winners.

Bosco was one of four high-school basketball student athletes selected in the Greater Sacramento region, sponsored by the House of Hoops (HOH), a basket­ball shoe wear store affiliated with Foot Locker, Inc.

The winners were two boys and two girls: Devin Moss of Rocklin High School, Cameron Gra­ham of Sac­ramento Charter High School, Sade Stroup of Forest Lake High School and Bosco.

Bosco was entered in the contest by basketball coach Dave Ancrum without knowing “how big of a deal it was,” she said.

The award recognizes students who not only demonstrate superior basket­ball skill but also contribute to the community and succeed in school.

On Oct. 8, Bosco, Stroup, and 98 male stu­dent athletes were invited to a free HOH Game Changers Skills Academy held at Natomas High School.

This was a one-day workshop at which student athletes practiced drills to improve skills, such as ball handling and re­bounding, un­der the supervision of experienced basketball instructors. There was even a dunking contest during the clin­ic.

“(Clinics) are pretty rare,” Bosco said. “They don’t do this very often.”

The four winners left early and were brought to the opening event of a new House of Hoops store at Arden Fair Mall.

The opening event was in collaboration with the presenta­tion of one of Nike’s newest basketball shoes, Nike Zoom Hyperfuse 2011, under the slogan “Take Every Advantage.”

As Bosco entered the store, she was baffled by a 7-foot-tall poster of her hanging on the wall and by the crowd waiting for her.

“People came up to me and shook my hands, saying I’m the girl from the poster,” Bosco said.

Bosco was awarded with a glass plaque, her biggest award outside of school.

The surprises continued when Bosco and the others found them­selves in a nervewracking live inter­view with Big Al of 102.5 KSFM while facing a store packed with over 100 people.

“The crowd was very intimidating,” Bosco said. “The other girl for­got the name of her fa­vorite basketball player.”

With respect to the event’s slogan “Take Every Advantage,” student athletes shared their stories of how they do so in their lives.

The event reached the height of its excitement with the special appearances by WNBA player Ticha Penicheiro of the Los Angeles Sparks and NBA player Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings.

“The crowd started chanting ‘Ticha Swag’ over and over again,” Bosco said.

Before Evans and Penicheiro were interviewed by Big Al, Bosco and the other honorees were able to meet them each for 10 minutes in their private limousines parked by the loading docks of the mall.

Bosco remembered the privileges and luxury the professional players enjoyed.

From the loading docks to the HOH store, “we had to climb stairs, and they got to use elevators,” Bosco said. “Their limousines were full of food, cham­pagne and Nike products. It was really fancy.”

Bosco met Evans and his brother, along with many from his entourage.

“What caught my eyes was his shiny diamond watch,” Bosco said. “He was very celebrity-like.”

Evans, however, was not as talkat­ive during the 10 minutes as Bosco had expected.

“He didn’t say a single word the whole time,” Bosco said. “I probably would’ve been more starstruck if he had said anything.”

On the other hand, Bosco said that Penicheiro was really friendly and talkative.

“We were talking, interacting, and getting to know her,” Bosco said. “She made us feel really special.”

Bosco called the day “amazing.”

“It was like my 15 minutes of fame. It was my moment.”