She is like any other American teenager. She goes to the mall and to the movies. She tries to fit in as best she can.
The two things that set her apart: her basketball game, and the stories.
Shay Doron doesn't volunteer the stories, but she politely tells them if asked. In an accent as New York as Yankee Stadium, she talks about the Israeli soldiers evacuating the shopping mall outside Tel Aviv, where she and family members were browsing just last week, because of the threat of Palestinian suicide bombers.
She talks about the time last year when four terrorists infiltrated her family's hometown of Ramat Hasharon and sent a panic through the streets until they were captured. She talks about her older sister, Netta, who recently began a mandatory two-year stint in the Israeli army.
She talks about what it's like to be in Israel during a time when her countrymen are being blown up by radicals at an unprecedented rate.
"When you're there, you immediately know when it happens because the phone system crashes," Doron said. "You don't even have to watch the news because everybody's calling everybody else when they hear about it and the phone system crashes."
Doron (pronounced doe-RON) and her family have bounced back and forth between the U.S. and Israel since she was a toddler. She and her parents moved to Long Island last year after spending the previous four years in Israel, in large part so that Shay could pursue her dream of playing basketball at the highest level.
"They want to see me succeed," said Doron, who turned 17 on April 1. "My dream is to one day be in the WNBA, and the competition here is much better than in Israel."
Doron and her teammates from the New York City AAU program, the Liberty Belles, face plenty of competition here this weekend at Boo Williams' annual invitational tournament. Hundreds of underclass girls from all over the country are competing in front of dozens of college coaches in one of the year's first big talent showcases.
"She's a very talented young lady," said Liberty Belles assistant coach Troy McGhie. "She needs to stay focused and keep working. If she does, the sky's the limit."
Doron, 5-foot-9, is widely considered one of the better high school juniors in the country. She helped her high school team, longtime New York City power Christ the King, to a 24-3 record and the No. 24 slot nationally in USA Today's final rankings.
In a Saturday morning game at Old Dominion, Doron quietly scored 17 points as the Liberty Belles cruised 75-53. She wasn't flashy and did a little of everything -- played defense, handled the ball, looked for open teammates, rebounded, shot when the opportunity was there.
"The thing that I like about Shay as a player is that the other girls on her team have been together now for about four or five years," McGhie said. "She sacrificed a lot of her personal game to fit in with the team."
Doron's athletic ability comes honestly. Her father, Yuda, was a national-class decathlete. Her mother, Tamari, played volleyball for the Israeli national team. Both are here this weekend to see their daughter play. The rest of the family, nearly two dozen aunts, uncles and cousins, still live in Israel in a small town outside of Tel Aviv.
"Both places are home," said Shay, who has dual American and Israeli citizenship. "Home is where my family is."
The Dorons spent a week in Israel for Passover, essentially a family reunion, and returned a few days ago. At least part of every day was spent with an ear toward the radio or an eye toward the television, as Palestinians and Israelis engaged in a retaliatory death spiral.
"I didn't go out a lot," Shay Doron said. "Mostly I stayed home with family and friends. I can go to the mall and to the movies here. I don't need to go out there."
They travel to Israel whenever schedules allow, which eases the pull of their homeland. Yuda Doron is an executive with a Boston-based software company, and Shay's days are filled mostly with school and basketball. Tamari Doron, a graphic designer and photographer in Israel, now works mostly at taking care of Shay here and keeping up with older daughter Netta as the killing escalates.
"Aside from the violence and the stupidity going on there right now, it is a good place," said Yuda Doron, a gregarious fellow who can speak for hours about the U.S. and Middle East relations. "The reason for coming back was for Shay to pursue basketball, but America is still the best place in the world to live, by far, and Americans don't know it. Every American should spend three months living somewhere else. If they did, they would get on their knees and kiss the ground when they returned."
The Dorons' family in Israel is rarely far from their thoughts. They say they cannot dwell on the violence or it would consume them. What they can do is talk to relatives constantly and maintain connections.
"Luckily, no one I know has been hurt or killed," Shay Doron said. "I'm fortunate not to have had any bad luck with that."
BOO WILLIAMS INVITATIONAL
TODAY: Semifinals begin in the morning, followed by championship games.
WHERE: Old Dominion University and various sites on the Peninsula, mostly in Hampton.
DIVISIONS: Girls -- Showcase, 16-and-under, 15-and-under, 14-and-under. Boys -- 17-and-under, 16-and-under.
MORE INFORMATION: www.hoopsfuture.com
* Scores and schedule, Scoreboard, C12
Dave Fairbank can be reached at 247-4637 or by e-mail at email@example.com