Lady Cardinals down Louisville Central 63-35 on Senior Night

Published 3:30 pm Tuesday, February 18, 2020

George Rogers Clark’s girls basketball team honored its two seniors Monday night along with the Clark County senior cheerleaders before their 63-35 win against Louisville Central.

Kennedy Igo and Shelbi Wilson were the two basketball players honored. Igo is the team’s leading scorer, averaging 14.2 points per game. Wilson averages 8.7 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting a team-best 49.4 percent from the field.

GRC’s head coach, Robbie Graham, is happy his team was able to celebrate the two seniors with a win on their special night.

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“Every year when we start the year, we always talk about how we have to be able to look our seniors in the eye when it ends and be able to know that we gave them our best shot. If we can do that, we can walk away with our heads held high. If we can’t, we’ve got a problem,” Graham said. “We’re losing two great kids first and foremost. Their parents have done a wonderful job of raising two magnificent young ladies. They’re strong leaders on the court, in the locker room, on the bus, in the hallways, on the streets and in the community. They’re just great people and great leaders. They’re good students and we’re really going to miss them. It’s always emotional to see seniors leave. You wish you could have them for four more years but they’re going to go onto bigger and better things and we’re really excited for their future.”

While it was a senior celebration, it was a freshman who led the Lady Cardinals to a win against the Central Yellow Jackets. Brianna Byars picked up 19 points and seven rebounds to help send the seniors off with a win.

Entering the game, Central was 11th in the state in scoring, 15th in defense and third in scoring margin.

GRC held the Yellow Jackets to 35 points, well below their season average of 65.8. They also put up 63 points on a defense that was only allowing 41 points per game.

The two teams were separated by only two points after the end of the first quarter with GRC leading 11-9, but the Cards began to find a rhythm in the second period. Byars scored six straight points for GRC to help give them a 25-17 lead at halftime.

Igo helped push the lead even further in the third quarter, scoring seven points to give GRC a 43-29 lead entering the final quarter.

The fourth quarter was all Clark County as the Lady Cardinals outscored Central 18-6 over the final eight minutes to give GRC a 63-35 win in their second-to-last game before the postseason begins.

“We wanted to come out tonight and we wanted to be focused and get after them early. I felt like we did that well. We shared the ball, had some tremendous assists and our defense was really good,” Graham said. “[Central]’s played some people tough. They played Sacred Heart tough twice. Playing in that tough 7th Region, they’re going to a hard out for somebody.”

The Lady Cardinals will conclude their regular season with a home contest against Henry Clay Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. in the new GRC Arena.