Of Arlington’s eight varsity high-school basketball teams, the Bishop O’Connell Knights on the girls and boys sides received the highest final rankings in statewide polls compiled by MaxPreps.com.
The polls include public- and private-school teams and rank all of the teams in the commonwealth.
The O’Connell boys (23-10) were ranked fourth in the state. As the fourth seed, O’Connell finished second to Highland in the Division I private-school state tournament.
St. Paul VI Catholic finished ranked No. 1, but lost to O’Connell in the state-tournament semifinals. Highland was ranked third in the state.
The Bishop O’Connell girls (17-15) were ranked No. 32. The Knights finished 0-1 in the state tournament as the No. 6 seed.
Also in the boys poll, the Yorktown Patriots (20-5) were ranked the next highest at 36th. Yorktown’s season ended in the semifinals of the 6D North Region tournament with a loss to the champion Westfield Bulldogs.
The Wakefield Warriors (12-12) were ranked 136th in the boys poll and the Washington-Liberty Generals (6-18) No. 219. The Wakefield boys lost in the first round of the region tournament to Westfield.
In the girls poll, Washington-Liberty (17-9) was ranked the next highest behind O’Connell at 73rd. The Generals lost in the championship game of the Liberty District tournament, then fell in the first round of the region.
The 17 victories were the most in years for Washington-Liberty, which also enjoyed consecutive winning seasons for the first time in many years.
The Yorktown girls (10-16) finished ranked No. 146 and the Wakefield girls (5-17) 217th.
The Yorktown girls lost in the first round of the region tournament to the Oakton Cougars.
