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On paper, the Lady Cards certainly looked to have their work cut out for them with matchups against Montgomery County (11-7) and North Laurel (13-3).

In practice, the Girls Basketball team at George Rogers Clark High School wouldn’t be denied.

The combination of strong offensive and defensive play came up big, as a 58-38 victory against the Montgomery County Lady Indians helped keep them on top of the 10th Region, and a 74-53 victory over the North Laurel Lady Jaguars in the Martin Luther King Jr. Classic improved their record to 15-1. The opening matchup took place Friday night, and was a faceoff between the first and second place teams of the 10th Region.

“[Montgomery County] has been playing well, they were definitely fired up. We came out a bit flat early, but picked it up in the 2nd quarter,” Coach Robbie Graham said. “We were focused against North Laurel. We knew they had played a really good schedule…they’re one of the teams that can possibly win the 13th Region.”

Freshman Ciara Byars continued to lead the charge offensively. As leading scorer during each of the last three contests, she was able to put down 26 points against Montgomery County along with 21 points against North Laurel. She also led the team with nine rebounds in the latter game.

“She’s such as a hard worker,” Graham said. “She does her role. If it’s scoring, she’ll do that. If it’s rebounding or whatever her role is that game, she accepts it. For her age, she’s well mature beyond her years.”

Tyra Flowers also came up big on the offensive side as well.

Always a force on the defensive end, the University of North Alabama commit tallied 15 and 16 points in each game, respectively.

“Offensively, we run some sets, but we give our girls a lot of freedom so that they can make a play for themselves or our team,” Graham said. “Tyra’s a tough matchup. She can get to the basket. She can pull up a jump shot. She’s very aggressive.”

Defensively, the team came up big as well.

While the Lady Indians were held to a 30% field goal percentage, while the Lady Jags’ 53 points was noticeably under their 63-point average so far this year.

“We want somebody to take the other team out of their stuff, where they can’t run their sets,” Graham stated. “I’m pleased with our defense. We always have room to grow, and I think we can be a really good defensive team.”

Looming ahead for the Lady Cards are the Paris Lady Hounds (11-4).

After an 11-4 start to the season, the Lady Hounds have now won nine of their last ten games and are coming on strong in the 10th Region. They’re also looking to avenge their lone loss as of late, a 50-31 defeat against the Lady Cards in Winchester three weeks ago.

“We know each other real well, and this should be a good atmosphere,” Graham said.

Sports contributor Matt Cizek wrote this story for the Winchester Sun.