The George Rogers Clark girls basketball team hosted Paul Laurence Dunbar Friday night in the 17th meeting between the schools.

The Lady Cardinals had won three straight against the Lady Bulldogs entering this weekend’s matchup.

Clark County jumped out to lead after a 5-0 run early in the first quarter thanks to two drawn charges by senior guard Shelbi Wilson.

“She’s such an important piece to the puzzle,” GRC head coach Robbie Graham said. “She’s a very smart basketball player and she does whatever it takes to win.”

The Bulldogs hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to cut the Cardinals’ lead to 15-9 at the end of the quarter.

Clark County was able to open up their lead at the beginning of the second quarter by scoring eight of the first 12 points, pushing their lead to double digits.

Ball security became an issue for GRC, losing 10 turnovers in the first half. The Bulldogs were able to capitalize on Cardinal turnovers, scoring nine straight to make it a one-point game. The team’s traded five-point runs to end the half, putting GRC up 28-27 at the break.

“Quick shots, turnovers and lack of execution [let them back in the game],” Graham said. “We’ve got to do a better job valuing the ball when we have a lead like that. We need to have more of a foot-on-the-throat mentality and not let teams back in the game.”

It looked like the Lady Cards were going to put it away early in the second half after they began the third quarter with a 7-0 run, but Dunbar continued to fight back.

The Bulldogs tied the game up twice but weren’t able to take the lead from GRC until the last basket of the third quarter, a 3-pointer that put them up 44-42 heading into the final period.

GRC once again opened the quarter up hot, scoring four quick points to retake the lead.

Dunbar took the lead at 51-49 midway through the fourth quarter and didn’t give it up until there was just over a minute remaining in the game.

After the Lady Cards’ took a 53-51 lead, Dunbar put up three points the old-fashioned way to give them a lead with a minute remaining.

Tyra Flowers was able to find Bri Byars cutting to the lane on the ensuing Cardinals’ possession. Byars made the floater to put the Cards back on top with 20 seconds to play.

GRC’s defense held strong on the other end, forcing a turnover and giving GRC a 53-51 win.

The Lady Cardinals are back in action today as they take on the Irish from St. Joseph Central out of Huntington, W. Va. The Irish are the No. 21 team in the country according to MaxPreps.

“I’ve told people they’re probably the third-best team we’ve played since I’ve been coaching here,” Graham said. “But you go to these events and classics to play good teams to get you ready for postseason play. We’re going to go compete, we’ll play hard and we’ll see what happens.”

The Lady Cardinals are set to take on St. Joseph Central at 4 p.m. at Louisville Mercy in the Raatz Fence/O’Shea Classic.