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GRC Arena is often filled near capacity, as players and fans from throughout the community come to support the Cards and Lady Cards. 

With both teams looking to rebound from losses against #1-ranked teams in the state of Kentucky as well, it made for an interesting week of high school basketball. 

The Cards (25-2) and Lady Cards (24-3) each had a successful week on the court while also celebrating Senior Night for players who will soon be moving past their days at George Rogers Clark High School. 

First, the Lady Cards took on the Dunbar Lady Bulldogs (10-14) in their last regular season home game. 

Prior to the contest, senior Makili Tabor – who has fielded offers from schools such as the University of Pikeville and Kentucky State University – was honored. 

“You always want to send your seniors off, especially in the last regular season home game,” said Lady Cards’ head coach Robbie Graham. “We just want to thank [her] for [her] years of service with us.”

Following the opening tip-off, it didn’t take long for the Lady Cards to find reasons for celebrating on the court. 

The team jumped out to a 25-0 lead, with Dunbar’s first score coming with less than one minute left in the opening quarter, and cruised to a convincing 69-22 victory. 

“I think it was a good game coming together and playing as a team after being on the road and having a tough loss,” said junior Khania Jones. “The message was to have each other’s backs, come and play together as hard as we could, and just fight.” 

“It’s been an experience here at GRC and I’m very happy I got to finish out here,” said Tabor. “We’re always preparing to be better than we were the last game.” 

Freshman Kennedy Stamper led the way with 14 points, while sophomore Anaya Chestnut (12) and junior Annette Miller (11) added 23 off the bench. 

Two nights later, in Georgetown for the second time in less than a week, the Cards (23-3) took on the Scott County Cardinals (8-20). 

Scott County, eager to slow the pace of the game down, trailed 8-4 at the end of the first quarter. 

However, GRC’s offense was able to get on track in the second quarter. 

Starting with a 9-0 run, GRC exploded offensively in the second quarter and built a 34-8 halftime lead en route to a 72-42 victory. 

The Cards’ Reshaun Hampton led the team with 19 points. 

“I think we played well [and] shot the ball well,” Hampton said. “We just came into this game with a whole different mentality.” 

Twenty four hours later, the Lady Cards were scheduled to play the Notre Dame Lady Pandas (19-6) in Park Hills. 

However, with blustery weather expected Friday night, the matchup was canceled in advance. 

On Saturday afternoon, the Cards basketball team celebrated their Senior Day, honoring Jacob Smith, JP Gaines, Reshaun Hampton and Breland Morrison. 

The latter three are all starters on this year’s squad. 

Cards’ head coach Josh Cook spoke highly of the players. 

“These four guys have represented the program with class,” he said. “We’re having a special season and we know that we want to continue that.” 

Following tip-off, an up-tempo matchup against a high-scoring Martin County (18-9) team saw both teams run the floor quite often. 

In a battle of defending region champions, GRC prevailed 83-72. 

While all five starters finished in double figures, sophomore Malachi Ashford led the team with 22 points. 

“[Martin County] can score in a hurry. On the flip side of that, as fast as they were playing, it gave us some opportunities to pass the ball up in transition and get easy buckets.” Cook said. “We were able to get a good lead and keep it.” 

The last week of the regular season awaits with the Lady Cards having matchups against Henry Clay (20-7) in Lexington and Ashland Blazer (22-5) in Ashland. 

The first game will be Tuesday, Feb. 20th, at 6:30 p.m. while the second will be Thursday, Feb. 22nd, at 6:30 p.m. 

The Cards end their regular season on Tuesday with a game against Bracken County (10-17) at GRC Arena at 7:30 p.m.