Victory was twice as nice this past weekend at Lancaster Christian Academy.  The Middle Tennessee Athletic Conference held the girls and boys’ varsity conference basketball tournaments at Lancaster Christian Academy last weekend with the championship and consolation games on Saturday.  The Lancaster Christian Academy Knights girls and boys’ varsity teams brought home the gold.  For the Lancaster boys, it was their second championship in as many years with an 82-53 victory over the Middle Tennessee Heat.  The girls’ championship, a 41-37 win over Curry Ingram, was the first in the short history of Lancaster Christian Academy Athletics. 

The girls' MTAC championship paired Lancaster Christian Academy with Curry Ingram.  Lancaster faced Curry Ingram twice during the regular season with each team winning on the road.  The loss to Curry Ingram was the Lady Knights only conference loss of the season.  The third match up of the season between the two schools would be for the conference championship.  The Lady Knights would have to defeat Curry Ingram without starting point guard Paige Argo who suffered a neck injury in the semifinals versus Christian Community.  Argo had 21 points including 5 three pointers in Lancaster's previous victory against Curry Ingram.  The Lady Knights would have to win the championship with only six players in uniform.  Lancaster Christian Academy had a huge spark from Ashley Daniels scoring 22 points with 6 three pointers.  Amber Daniels and Mallory Morrison also contributed 10 and 9 points respectively in the victory.  After leading most of the game, the Lady Knights found themselves behind with the championship about to slip out of their grasp.  A solid defensive effort lead to multiple turnovers which resulted in points for LCA.  With less than one minute remaining, Lancaster had a one-point lead with the ball.  Instead of working the clock, Lancaster decided to attack as Amber Daniels of the Lady Knights nailed an open three point basket from the corner to extend the lead to four points for Lancaster.  Paige Jarmoluk forced several turnovers in the closing seconds to secure the championship for Lancaster Christian Academy.  Also contributing but not scoring in the championship game were Chelsea Gosnell and Shelby Nelson.  Head Coach Jeff Daniels and assistant Kevin Hooper were overwhelmed with the team's recent success despite a rough start to the season.  Paige Argo, Ashley Daniels, and Amber Daniels were named to the all-conference team for their performance throughout the season.  

The boys' championship game featured the first place team from the MTAC North Division, the Middle Tennessee Heat, and the number one seed from the MTAC South Division, the Lancaster Christian Academy Knights.  The Heat advanced to the championship with a victory over the Daniel One Academy Lions in Friday's semifinals.  Also in the semifinals, Chris Dansby's 27 points led the Knights to a hard fought physical victory over the Christian Community Colts who had a dominating 35 point performance from Quntavius Johnson.  Lancaster had a one-point lead at halftime thanks to a three-quarter court shot from Dominique Bell.  With a few defensive adjustments, the Knights managed to control most of the second half and advance to the championship game. 

The MTAC championship game would be the only game remaining to complete a perfect conference record for Lancaster.  The Knights, undefeated in the regular season conference schedule, started the championship game with a 21-12 lead after the first quarter.  Although the Middle Tennessee Heat were only outscored by two points in the second quarter, the Knights would continue to lead the remainder of the game with a well-balanced scoring attack and a mixture of defenses.  Junior Chris Dansby led the Knights with 19 points and four other players in double figures, Chase Argo 13 with 3 three pointers, Dominique Bell 13, Conner Pack 11 with 3 three pointers, and Ryan Hanes 10 with two three pointers.  Chris Gutierrez added 8, Devon Lancaster 2 and Dalton Ford 3 as well as Ian Knight contributed to the championship victory with their defensive efforts.  Senior Ryan Hanes, Junior Chris Dansby, and Sophomore Dominique Bell achieved all-conference honors for the Knights.  Coach Jeff Daniels and assistant coach Kevin Hooper were excited to help bring the second championship in the same day to Lancaster.  The coaches contribute the team’s recent success to increases in assists per game, better overall effort throughout each game, and the unselfish play of the entire team.  Coach Daniels and his staff will be spending this week preparing the Lancaster Christian Academy boys' team as they will finish their season at the National Association of Christian Athletes (NACA) tournament in Dayton, TN on March 2-6.  

Kevin Hooper, LCA Athletic Director