The top two scorers for the Bishop O’Connell Knights boys high-school basketball team this season earned all-state honors for their performances.
Junior guard and leading scorer Darius Bivins was a first-team Division I private-school selection in Virginia. Senior guard Shane Lincoln, the Knights’ No. 2 scorer, made the second team.
Talk about durability — Alyssa Hayashi was the definition of that word during her college career for the Swarthmore College women’s basketball team.
Over four seasons, the Bishop O’Connell High School graduate started 99 of the 101 games she played in for the Division III team.
Having successfully hosted the girls and boys 6D North Region tournament-championship basketball games on Feb. 28, Wakefield High School is eager to do the same next season.
The title contests were at 6 p.m. for the girls between the Langley Saxons and Oakton Cougars, followed by the 8 p.m. boys tilt, with the South Lakes Seahawks and Westfield Bulldogs facing off.
As the fourth seed, the Bishop O’Connell Knights made a big impact by playing three tight games and finishing a close second in the Division I private-school boys state basketball tournament.
The Knights (23-10) lost in overtime to the No. 2 seed Highland School Hawks of Warrenton, 56-51, in the Saturday (March 1) championship game at Benedictine College Prep in Richmond.
A quest for a third straight conference-tournament championship ended with a disappointing overtime loss in the title game for the Marymount University Saints men’s basketball team.
Second-seeded Marymount (17-10) lost that road contest in the Atlantic East Conference final to the host and top seed Neumann University Knights, 83-77, to end the Saints’ season.
The 2024-25 boys high school basketball season ended with three longtime head coaches of Arlington teams having a combined lifetime victory total of 1,304 games.
Of the three, Joe Wootten of the Bishop O’Connell Knights has the most career wins with 558. Those are the most victories by any O’Connell boys basketball coach in program history.
They had hoped to accomplish more during the playoffs, leaving some of the Yorktown Patriots disappointed.
But in reality, there was much for the squad to celebrate.
The Bishop O’Connell Knights had short-lived, one-game stays in the girls and boys Washington Catholic Athletic Conference basketball tournaments, each finishing 0-1.
The fourth-seeded boys high-school team (22-9) lost to the visiting and No. 5 seed St. John’s, 65-57, in a first-round game. The sixth-seed O’Connell girls (17-15) fell on the road, 80-41, to the No. 3 seed Bishop Ireton Cardinals.
A number of players from Arlington were selections to all-6D North Region girls and boys basketball teams for their performances during the 2024-25 high-school season.
Boys players chosen to the first team from Yorktown High School were junior guard Jake Coulam and senior guard/forward Brennan Pilot. Yorktown senior forward Jack Rubin made the second team.
The Yorktown Patriots got off to a fast start in the 6D North Region boys basketball tournament with a dominating 73-43 first-round rout of the visiting Oakton Cougars.
In its next game, though, Yorktown lost to the host and Concorde District tournament champion Westfield Bulldogs, 64-55, in the semifinals — ending the Patriots’ season with a 20-5 record.
Repairs are coming to a decades-old water main tunnel under I-66 near Virginia Square, bringing parking restrictions and closing some basketball courts.
The Hayes Park basketball courts will be closed for about three months and parking will be restricted on 15th Street N. and part of N. Lincoln Street starting the week of March 10.
The Washington-Liberty Generals girls team advanced the farthest of any Arlington high-school basketball team in Liberty District tournaments.
The second-seeded girls squad (17-8) lost to the top seed and host Langley Saxons, 56-45, in the Friday (Feb. 21) championship contest, having its six-game winning streak snapped.
