Harmony rules at St. Sabina's season opener Tensions over league membership finally put to rest

They came for the basketball, and that's what they got.

Parents, siblings and teachers, clad in their schools' respectivecolors, cheered loudly as the scrappy, scrawny players made their wayup and down the well-worn gym floor.

But the camera crews and a capacity crowd of about 500 signaledsomething much bigger than an afternoon of parochial leaguebasketball.

On Saturday, the St. Sabina Saints opened their season as part ofthe Southside Catholic Conference, marking the first time the largelyblack school has competed in the predominantly white athletic league--and putting to rest a roller-coaster, race-tinged debate.

But though tensions had been high …