A Lo-Ellen Park Knights senior girls basketball team that have not yet hit their peak took a nice step forward in their return visit to OFSAA this year.

With much of the core that went winless in their inaugural appearance in 2024 back in the fold, the Knights secured their berth at the “AA” tournament in Belleville thanks to a 62-40 win over the Korah Colts in the NOSSA "AA/AAA" final as Kaylee Prevost (23) and Gia Rocca (16) paced the attack.

The Knights wasted little time demonstrating that OFSAA 2025 would be different, edging the Tecumseh Vista Academy Vortex 43-42 in their opening round encounter and following that up with a 49-33 victory over the Saint Patrick Saints from Thunder Bay.

Unfortunately, their pre-event rankings (#11) would mean that their quarter-final tilt would find the locals opposite the #1 seeded and eventual silver medal winning Thousand Island Pirates, as the northerners fell to the St Lawrence River crew 67-28.

With a number of these young athletes still in grade 11 or less, there remain lessons to be learned as the Knights acclimatized themselves to the talent on display at provincials. “These teams move the ball really well with all of their players – and they also lock down on defense,” noted 16 year-old point guard Maggie Tripodi.

That last part was truly the eye-opener of twelve months ago.

“The full court pressure is where we got stumped,” said Tripodi. “We need to learn to in-bound the ball, first, and then push the ball up the court.

Lo-Ellen Park Knights: Aurora Circelli, Tiana Thai, Ryleigh Gainer, Lara Gray, Kaylee Prevost, Paige Dawson, Maggie Tripodi, Gia Rocca, Lara Gray, Mckenna Mende, Alyssa Amadio and head coach Antoinette Purdon.

Meanwhile, the Horizon Aigles lost three straight competing at the OFSAA "A" tournament in Brockville, trimmed by the ESC St-Jean-de-Brébeuf Lynx from Welland (38-36) in game one as Peyton Tessier netted 21 points in a losing cause.

Estelle Skippen led the Aigles in game two with a 28-point performance but it wasn't enough to get Horizon past the ESC Nouvelle-Alliance Tornades, the latter posting a 67-47 triumph.

Bumped to the consolation quarter-finals, the Val Caron crew were sent packing as the Englehart High-School Spartans grounded the Aigles, 47-37, with Peyton Tessier accounting for well over half of her team's offensive output with 23 points.