The Bishop O'Connell Lady Knights have been playing excellent basketball as of late. The Knights, coached by Fran Vitt (third season), weigh-in with an overall record of 8-14 and a conference record of 3-9.

The Knights have won three of their past four games after starting the season slowly.

"We probably averaged 24 turnovers per game in the first few games of the season," said Coach Vitt.

Since late January, O'Connell has defeated St. Gertrude’s (Richmond) 72-45, Bishop Ireton 62-50 and Good Counsel 70-67 in overtime in consecutive games.

In the Ireton game, sophomore Shannon Ambrose (20 points), freshman Jackie Tinsley (16) and sophomore Hillary Huffman (seven) paced the Knights. In the Good Counsel game, Tinsley (21), Ambrose (14), Huffman (14) and junior Rylan Chesley (eight) paced the Knights.

Earlier in the season, the Knights defeated Seton (Manassas) 70-64, Garfield 64-61, Norristown (Pa.) 45-29, Seton (Md.)62-52 and Seton (Manassas a second time) 69-47.

This year’s squad is one of the youngest teams in recent O'Connell history. Starters include juniors Kristina D'Ambrosio (point guard), Chesley (center), Ambrose (shooting guard) and Huffman (forward) and Tinsley (wing guard/forward).

Key reserves include seniors Lola Williams and Naja Gibson; juniors Allison Lawton and Natalie Schmidt; sophomores Lisa Guerra and Katie Yohe and freshman Kelly Hogan. Williams, Gibson, Chesley and Ambrose are the Knights' captains.

Ambrose averages 12.5 points per game, Tinsley 10.5 and Huffman 8.0 to leadthe Knights offensively. Chesley’s 12.5 rebounds per game is one of the best in the conference.

"Only four of the girls were on the varsity roster last season," said Vitt. "Ambrose was the only one that started with any regularity. We're definitely young and we're kind of learning with baby steps. Even though we lost a game to Paul VI and to Carroll in mid January that is where our improvement and progression first started to occur. We were down by double digits in both games, and we pared them both down to single digits. We're starting to play together now."

Jimmy Brown is the Knights junior varsity coach. Dean Eliason is the Knights freshman coach.

The Lady Knights visited Seton (Md.) on Feb. 4 and hosted St. Mary's Rykken on Feb. 6. They face conference rival Paul VI on Feb. 8 at Marymount University in Arlington for a boys/girls doubleheader.