By Casey Castle

The George Rogers Clark High School basketball teams are wrapping up their holiday hoops action. The boys finished second in the City of Middletown Holiday Classic at Eastern High School in Louisville while the girls will take part in the championship game today in the Murray Bank Lady Tiger Classic.

The boys lost a physical game against Male, 67-53. The Cards led by five in the first half and cut Male’s lead to two in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs were too strong down the stretch.

“It was a physical game,” GRC coach Josh Cook said. “It probably got out of hand a lot of times. It’s unfortunate in that championship game that is how it ends, but you have to be mentally tough and not let your emotions get the best of you.

“Our kids played hard. They battled. There’s just some things Male did better tonight.”

Jordan Graham led the Cardinals with 14 points. Brennan Canada and Ryan Cooper eaach put in 11 points.

The Cards had a seven-game winning streak snapped. That streak included an exciting win in the final seconds over North Oldham in the first game of the City of Middletown Holiday Classic and a defensively dominant win over Eastern Thursday.

“We didn’t have the ball pressure we had the last couple nights,” Cook said.

GRC takes a 10-2 record into the New Year. They travel to Paris Tuesday.

“That one is way more important than this one,” Cook said. “December is a learning process. This is a game we can learn and grow from. Our kids are getting better. I like where our basketball team is right now.”

The Cardinals return home to face 40th District foe Bourbon County Friday at 8 p.m.

Girls get rematch with Murray

The Cardinals earned another shot at tournament host Murray by winning easily Friday over Owensboro, 76-23.

The game was never in doubt, as GRC jumped out to a 31-7 first-quarter lead. The Cards were up 62-17 at halftime. They built the lead thanks to 11 3-pointers in the first half.

All of those came from either Hayley Harrison or Kennedy Igo. Harrison led all scorers with 22 points on six 3-pointers while Igo poured in 19 on five 3-pointers. Jasmine Flowers added 14. All three did all their damage in the first half.

The Cardinals also rolled in their first tournament game — a 67-26 win over North Hardin Thursday.

The win improves GRC to 9-4 and moves the Cardinals into the Murray Bank Lady Tiger Classic championship game today at 3 p.m.

The Tigers topped Lincoln County. 67-63 to advance to the title game of their own tournament. The Tigers defeated the Cardinals, 65-53, in the semifinal of the Traditional Bank Classic at Lexington Catholic just last week.

GRC returns to 40th District play after the New Year, traveling to Paris Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Cardinals will be home Friday to take on Bourbon County at 6 p.m.