Staff Writer

ONEONTA — Jaclyn "Jacey" Lambros didn't earn a place on the New Jersey Nets dance team by just sitting around on the sidelines.

But those sidelines are now the primary part of her career.

The 22-year-old Oneonta native and recent Hartwick College graduate was one of a handful of women chosen last summer to join the NBA franchise's Power-N-Motion dance team.

The dancers, most of whom are in their mid-20s, perform high-energy routines during timeouts and interact with fans throughout every Nets home game at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.

"Complete satisfaction," are the two words Lambros uses to describe her job and love of dancing. She was home earlier this week, between practices, to talk about her new career.

"Dancing is all I want to be doing," she said.

Lambros, who has danced since she was 7 and still teaches when she can at Oneonta Tap Works, is not only the youngest dancer on the 14-member team, she is the only dancer to have been chosen from the upstate area.

The limber brunette, whose dancing roots span the tap, jazz, modern and ballet genres, is modest about her successful tryout, which began with 200 hopefuls.

"I never expected to get it," Lambros said. "I was just thrilled to make it beyond the first day of tryouts."

Lambros said she knew she had made the final cut after the two-day tryout. But she didn't learn she'd made the team until more than a week later.

Power-N-Motion practices — up to four a week — are a grueling mix of learning new routines and rehearsing for games, she said.

Depending on the game schedule, Lambros said, she is usually in Oneonta for a couple of days at the beginning of the week and then drives to New Jersey for practices and games.

Her brief layovers in Oneonta mean teaching some classes at Tap Works — where she's been dancing for years — and working for gas money at The Golden Guernsey.

Meanwhile, Lambros' father — former Hartwick men's basketball coach Nick Lambros — says he and his family are proud of Jacey's success.

"We were all ecstatic to hear she'd made the team," he said. "I mean, this is great."

Ingrained in his mind, he said, are memories of Jacey and her sister, Maria, as children cheerleading during the Hartwick men's games.

"We are top gun, best of the best ... we'll be No. 1, no less," Lambros chanted, remembering their cheers.

Katrina Shuler, owner of Oneonta Tap Works, said Lambros has been an inspiration to her young dancers.

"The kids love her," Shuler said, "and her choreography shows her energy as much as her performing does."

The dance team, which spends so much time together during the basketball season, is a lot like a family, Jacey Lambros said.

"Everyone's really cool, and everyone gets along really well," she said.

Lambros' contract, which runs through June, calls for her to try out for the team on a yearly basis.

Her long-term goal, she said, will be to earn a master's in education.

But right now, Lambros said, dancing professionally is what she wants to keep doing.

Lambros' next home game is this Saturday night, when the Nets take on the Dallas Mavericks at 7:30. All 41 of this season's home games can be seen on the YES network.

If you have some good news you'd like to share, please call Managing Editor Cary Brunswick at 432-1000 or (800) 721-1000; e-mail him at cary@thedailystar.com; fax him at 432-5707; or write to him at P.O. Box 250, Oneonta, NY 13820.