By Micah Satterly

MAYSVILLE — George Rogers Clark ran Nicholas County off the floor in the opening round of the 10th Region Tournament.

After a slow first quarter, the Lady Cardinals jumped on the Lady Jackets and took a 20-point lead going into halftime and never looked back on their way to a 69-36 victory Monday night at the Mason County Fieldhouse.

Clark will compete in the semifinals against Campbell County/Bracken County winner at 6 p.m. Friday in Maysville.

Hayley Harrison scored 14 points at the break and finished with a game-high 19 points leading all scorers.

Harrison thought the team played well, but still has room for improvements.

“We performed really well,” Harrison said. “I think we could have done a little bit better. We need to work a little on defense. On offense, I think we executed really well. We had a couple of break downs here and there but that wasn’t a big deal.”

Coach Robbie Graham said they had success on the defensive end despite the sluggish first quarter.

“I think we were tight,” he said. “Obviously they are just kids. I think with looking ahead a little bit, it’s hard not to do that. Defensively is where we hang our hat and we held them to low scoring. We were able to get our hands onto loose balls and get some easy baskets in transition to get going a little bit.”

Clark used their quickness and athleticism to their advantage by pressuring Nicholas County full court most of the game to speed up the tempo resulting in 17 turnovers for the Lady Jackets and 21 percent shooting with making only nine shots.

Although Clark was struggling to shoot the ball, they dominated in the paint scoring 36 points compared to Nicholas County’s 10.

Graham took notice the team was struggling to find the bottom of the net, but has high hopes for Friday’s game.

“We didn’t shoot the ball very well,” he said. “Once again, maybe that’s just the tightness. Hopefully Friday we’ll come back and shoot the ball a little better. We definitely wanted to crash the boards and Shemaya got her hands on a lot of balls and gave us a lot of second chance opportunities.”

Harrison agrees that defense will be the key to victory in the semifinals on Friday night.

“We have to be focused on defense,” she said. “We can’t give up easy drives or baskets.”

Graham knows Friday night will be more of a challenge, but is confident in his team.

“It’s the semifinals,” he said. “Campbell County is heavily favored. You know never what can happen, so we have the next three days to prepare for our next opponent and play better, so we’ll see what happens on Friday.”

Clark had well-balanced scoring with contributions from 10 other players.