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On a Tuesday night in Winchester, the George Rogers Clark Cards and Lady Cards were back in action.

Against Bourbon County, each was ready to play.

The Lady Cards put on arguably their best defensive effort of the season in a 47-13 rout of the Lady Colonels, while the Cards broke loose for an 88-38 victory against the Colonels.

“I thought we did a really good job defensively,” said Lady Cards head coach Robbie Graham. “We did a really good job of pressing the ball and made them turn the ball over, which created some baskets for us.”

The Lady Cards took to the court for the first time since Saturday after being challenged by a tough stretch of seven games in ten days.

Not to be overlooked, the Lady Colonels forced GRC into some challenges – keeping them from converting on a three-point pass throughout the contest.

However, the Lady Cards forced several early turnovers and limited Bourbon County to just two field goals in the opening half as GRC took a 27-6 lead into halftime.

Junior Makili Tabor provided two early points for GRC and kept the basketball in their possession through several rebounds.

“I just knew I had to come out and play the best defense I could,” she said. “We know that we can [play] with any team if we wanted to. We just got to play [defense] like we did today.”

The team came out strong in the second half, holding the Lady Colonels to only one field goal in the final minute of the third quarter en route to a 35-point lead.

Senior Brianna Byars would finish as the Lady Cards’ leading scorer with 16 points, while eighth-grader Aaliyah Graham contributed her first varsity points of the season.

“We started moving the ball better. The ball didn’t stick, and I think we got some easy baskets,” Graham said.

Afterward, the Cards took to the floor.

Leading from the get-go, nine different players found the scoreboard as the Cards came through with their second-highest point total of the season – one game after scoring a season-high 103 against Paris.

“We’re really sharing the basketball,” said Cards head coach Josh Cook. “If you can play that way and you can turn out some outside noise, we’re only [going to] get better.”

By the end of the first quarter, they had already built an 18-point lead en route to a 31-point advantage by halftime.

Senior Sam Parrish finished the night with 17 points.

“We [wanted] to come out firing. It’s a district game, and they can always be big games,” he said.

Trent Edwards ended the game with a team-leading 21 points, while Jerone Morton had 16.

“We all know we can score. We all know how to get each other open shots, and we all know each other’s strengths and weaknesses”, Parrish said. “We’re just trying to buy in together as a team.”

Junior Jaylen Berry, as well as freshmen Braxton Martin and Gunnar Woods scored their first points of the season.

While celebrating his birthday, sophomore Eli Craig delivered five points.

Defensively, the Cards held Bourbon County to 30.8% shooting from the floor, limiting leading scorers Jake Scott and Cain Flynn to 8 points each.

The Lady Cards and Cards round out 40th District regular season play with matchups against Montgomery County this Friday night in Mt. Sterling.

The Lady Cards tip off at 6:00 p.m., while the boys do so at 7:30 p.m.