The Bishop O'Connell Knights won their third Virginia Independent State (V.I.S.) title in the past four seasons by defeating Paul VI High School 66-50 in the championship game. The game was played March 5 at Richard Bland College, Petersburg.

O'Connell, ranked fourth in the region by the Washington Post, currently weighs in with an overall record of 28-3, and will not conclude the season until March 17-19 at the prestigious Alhambra Tournament in Western, Md..

Paul VI is unranked as their season ends, but the Panthers were formerly ranked 13th by the Washington Post.

O'Connell, coached by Joe Wootten, led from start to finish against the Panthers. The Knights led 34-17 at halftime. PVI outscored O'Connell 33-32 in the second half, but it was too little too late.

Pacing O'Connell was Marcus Ginyard (24), Dave Neal (16), Rockwell Moody (six), Jason Colenda (five), Wil Johnson (four), Bryant Majors (two), Tyler Young (two) and Adam Baumgartner (one).

"Paul VI is a good team, but we employed a zone defense in the second quarter and that gave us some good momentum. We scored the final two buckets of the second quarter and that was key," said Wootten.

In the V.I.S. semi-finals on March 4, the Knights defeated Northern Virginia rival Flint Hill 65-50. O’Connell led 28-20 at halftime and then outscored the Huskies 37-30 in the second half.

Neal led O’Connell with 21 points, followed by Ginyard (15), Jason Clark (10), Colenda (10) and Bryant Majors (five).

"We pretty much led Flint Hill from start to finish. Dave Neal and Jason Clark hit some key jumpers. We played our game and we shared the ball," said Wootten.

In the quarterfinals (March 2, played at neutral site Ireton), the

Knights defeated St. Annes Belfield, Charlottesville 76-71 [overtime]. O'Connell merely led 21-16 after the first quarter and merely led 36-34 at halftime.

The contest was tied 66 apiece after regulation. The Knights outscored St. Anne’s 10-5 in the four minute extra period. Neal (29) and Ginyard (20) led O’Connell.

"It was kind of tough playing two games in less than 24 hours. St. Anne’s Belfield was a good team, but our kids showed their character," said Wootten.

The Knights dropped their WCAC Championship contest March 1 to nationally ranked DeMatha 65-54. O'Connell has lost only three games all season and two of those loses are against DeMatha.

"This has been a team with great senior leadership (Marcus Ginyard, Dave Neal, Bryant Majors). The entire team has improved as the season has progressed. They've all played hard," said Wootten.

Against O’Connell, PVI was led by Calvin Mainor (12), Artie Dabney (eight), Danny Sumner (eight), Jean Cajou (seven) and Anthony Brown (four).

"We needed to have played that game versus O'Connell with more energy. Had we done that, it would have been quite a bit closer," said Cajou.

In the semi-finals on March 4, the Panthers upset second-seeded Blue Ridge 88-83. The "Black and Gold" were paced by Cajou (25), Sumner (16), Dabney (12) and Cooks (10).

"They had a big run late in the third quarter, but defensively we got some big stops and we hit some big shots in the fourth quarter to defeat Blue Ridge," said Cajou.

The Bishop Ireton Cardinals, coached by Chuck Driesell, concluded their season on a down note in the V.I.S. quarterfinals. Ireton concluded the season with an overall record of 13-14. Ireton traveled to second-seeded Blue Ridge on March 1.

The host team prevailed 72-52, which ended Driesell's inaugural season at the Alexandria school in an abrupt manner. The Cardinals were paced by Daeshawn Branch (14) and Chad Wilson (14).

The Ireton girls, coached by Mike Hutton (first season at the helm), made the furthest run of the three diocesan girls teams in the postseason. For the first time in school history, Ireton finished as V.I.S. runners-ups.

Ireton finished the campaign with an overall record of 18-12. "That was the highest number of wins in a season and also the highest win percentage of any team in school history," said Hutton.

Third-seeded Ireton dropped a 44-28 decision to top-seeded St. Anne’s Belfield, in the title game. The contest was played March 5, at St. Gertrude’s in Richmond.

Ireton trailed 17-14 at halftime. The Lady Cardinals got behind the proverbial "eight-ball" in the third quarter and were outscored 27-14 in the decisive second half. The Cardinals were paced by Becky Fernandes (six) and Rachel Martin (six).

In the semi-finals (March 4, at St. Gertrudes), Ireton upset arch-rival and second-seeded Paul VI 57-55. Ireton led 37-18 at halftime, and despite being outscored 37-20 in the second half, the Cardinals hung on for the win.

"Defensively, we applied some full court pressure that was disruptive to PVI. Offensively, we were in a different offensive set virtually every time and that made it hard for PVI to adjust," said Hutton.

Fernandes (18) and Martin (14) led Ireton.

Both the Paul VI Lady Panthers and the O'Connell Lady Knights bowed out in the V.I.S. semi-finals. Paul VI, coached by Scott Allen, dropped the aforementioned 57-55 ballgame to upstart Ireton. The Panthers concluded the season with an overall record of 17-10. PVI was paced by Scarlett Williams (16) and Rebecca Grimes(11).

"We didn't come ready to play against Ireton. I don't know why, but we didn't play PVI basketball that game," said senior Kendra King, who will attend Marshall University on full scholarship.

O'Connell, coached by Jimmy Brown (first season at the helm), came up short in the semifinal round as well.

The Lady Knights dropped a 64-42 contest to St. Anne’s Belfield. In the quarterfinals on March 1 at O'Connell, the Knights defeated Flint Hill 59-44.

The Knights were paced by Shannon Ambrose (20), Chastity Clayton (10), Emily Flach (nine), Kelly Hogan (eight) and Cara O'Brien (seven). Ambrose has scored over 1,200 points in her career.

"We really hustled and we definitely worked hard all season," said senior Clare Flach, the older sister of Emily Flach. "Two of our key wins were the home win versus Ireton a number of weeks ago and the recent V.I.S. quarterfinal win versus Flint Hill."