The George Rogers Clark Cardinals took the stage at Bellarmine University in Louisville this weekend for the annual Louisville Invitational Tournament.

The LIT is a prestigous invite-only tournament where teams across the state compete for a shot at the title and bragging rights.

The Cards finished 2-1 with an appearance in the finals.

GRC picked up the two victories over Sacred Heart Friday, Bullitt East Saturday and fell short in the championship to Ryle.

Last season, the Cards were defeated in the first round to DuPont Manual.

Head coach Robbie Graham was unable to coach the team this weekend due to having flu-like symptoms.

Assistant coach Steve Anderson stepped up to the plate, although he was also feeling under the weather, and took over.

Anderson said he was impressed with how the team played in the LIT.

“We played really well,” he said. “Our team played hard and took the challenge of Graham not being there. Actually, all the coaches stepped up and the girls just played really hard. We shot well the first two games, but with Ryle we couldn’t get it going. We were up with around four minutes to go but we couldn’t finish it out.”

Anderson said his team is pulling it together and finding a rhythm again after having to overcome injuries during the middle part of the season.

“With injuries, we just didn’t have our stride. This weekend we showed who we are and we played against three really good opponents who are in the rankings. It showed the girls we can make the run we need to stretch our season out to early February and early March.”

Anderson said the team is finally putting the pieces together at the right time and have came a long way from the beginning of the season.”

“We’ve made a lot of progress,” he said. “We’ve had younger kids get minutes from injuries to allow us to make our bench deeper. We’ve shot the ball well most of the games. We’re starting to execute better and our defense is getting better.”

Anderson said the team’s shooting percentage went down against Ryle Sunday and was the main reason the Cards couldn’t come out with a victory.

“They were a good, hard-nosed opponent,” he said. “We executed well and had a lot of good shots but we couldn’t make it. We hung in there and started finally making shots and caused turnovers. We went on a 16-5 lead and eventually took the lead but we couldn’t hold on. We shot well against Bullitt  East and Sacred Heart. Our defense was on point and we did a good job of shutting down Sacred Heart’s best players.”

Anderson said the LIT as well other tournaments GRC participates in ever year always has a Sweet Sixteen-type of feel to it which helps them be prepared come tournament time.

“Coach Graham has tried to set the schedule to get us ready for region and state. For the LIT, you have to get invited and it’s set up just like the Sweet Sixteen. The field is just as strong and it was a very Sweet Sixteen-like format. Hopefully we’ll still see the same competitive edge in our team on the road to Rupp Arena.”

Kennedy Igo, Maleaha Bell and Hayley Harrison were recognized with All-Tournament Team honors.

The Cards will host Rowan County 7:30 p.m. Friday.