By Will Norris | BWS Sports

PINEVILLE — Last year, the Faith Training Christian Academy Lady Patriots claimed the ACEL state championship at Pineville High School.

This year, the FTCA Patriots will be joining their counterparts at the annual ACEL state tournament this weekend, which will be held on the campus of Louisiana Christian University and H.O. West Fieldhouse.

The state semifinals will be held beginning Friday at 3 p.m., with championship Saturday beginning  at 10 a.m.

The Lady Patriots will take to the court at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon against First Baptist Christian School in a 2-3 matchup, which will be followed at 4:30 p.m. with a contest between top seed Southwest Louisiana Homeschool Athletics against No. 4 Mount Olive.

Beginning at 6 p.m., the Southwest Louisiana boys will be in action, while Faith Training, the No. 4 seed, will be on the court for the 7:30 p.m. game against the top-ranked Shreveport Force, coached by former LSU and NBA standout Stromile Swift.

The semifinal losers will play at 10 and 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in the consolation games. Following the consolation games, the junior varsity girls’ championship will be held at 1 p.m. with Faith Training taking on CHEF-Baton Rouge.

At 2:30 p.m., Shreveport and Faith Training will match up in the boys’ junior varsity championship game.

The girls’ state championship game is slated for 4 p.m., with the boys’ championship to follow at 5:30 p.m.

Faith Training’s semifinal games can be heard on 93.5 KJAE-FM beginning at 3 p.m. Friday with Will Norris and Daniel Green of BWS Sports on the call.