The Bishop O'Connell Lady Knights stepped up to the challenge at hand and defeated archrival Paul VI High School 53-51 in an overtime classic Feb. 8 at Marymount University in Arlington.

The Knights, coached by Fran Vitt, improved to 10-15 overall, 5-10 WCAC. The Panthers, coached by Scott Allen, dropped to 11-9 overall, 7-6 WCAC.

The Knights led 38-32 with 5:20 remaining in the fourth quarter, before the Panthers stormed back to tie the contest 46-46 and force overtime. Early in the extra period Panther senior Debbie Bruen put PVI ahead 48-46.

Panther junior Victoria Liaros then converted two free throws to give the "Black and Gold" a 50-46 advantage.

But O'Connell sophomore Shannon Ambrose knocked down a "trey" to bring the Knights within 50-49 with 1:33 remaining.

PVI sophomore Kendra King converted one of two free throws seconds later and the Panthers led 51-49.

Ambrose, the only Knight that started on varsity last season with any regularity, converted a long jumper to tie the contest at 51 with 50 seconds remaining.

Thirty-four seconds later, Knight junior Kristina D'Ambrosio made a huge defensive play. The O'Connell guard "tied up" the PVI ball handler for a five second violation, which gave the ball back to the Knights with 16 seconds remaining.

D'Ambrosio took the inbounds pass and dribbled the clock down. Ambrose took the pass and launched a long jumper that missed the mark. But sophomore Katie Yohe collected the rebound and put in the game winner as time expired and the squad from North Arlington celebrated as though they had won the championship.

"Katie was in perfect position," said Vitt.

"It was the first game in my career that I scored the winning basket," said Yohe. "I rebounded Shannon's missed shot and put in a left-handed layup."

"We just didn't play well enough to win this game," said a dejected Kendra King, who was key in the Panthers victory versus the Knights earlier this season She is the "Black and Gold's" leading scorer and rebounder.

"We never put our heads down and we never gave up. We have been successful lately because we have corrected our early season weaknesses and we have connected as a team," said Ambrose, who leads the Knights in scoring.

"This is a very big win. Our girls have been working hard," said Vitt. "They are coming of age. Even when we were down four points in overtime (50-46) the kids kept their composure. We've been playing well these past couple of weeks."

Pacing O'Connell was Ambrose (15 points), freshman Jackie Tinsley (14), D'Ambrosio (seven), junior Natalie Schmidt (six), Yohe (five), junior Rylan Chesley (four) and sophomore Hillary Huffman (two).

Pacing PVI was senior Allison Opfer (14), King (11), senior Tameisha Williams (nine), Liaros (six), Bruen (five), senior Moira Smith (two), sophomore Sara Vargas (two) and sophomore Scarlett Williams (two).

The girls’ WCAC playoffs will take place February 20-23 at American University.