The George Rogers Clark Lady Cards faced shooting struggles early against the Bourbon County Colonels Tuesday but prevailed in the second half as GRC defeated Bourbon 76-39.

After forcing the Colonels to turn it over and the Cards capitalized on the other end, Bourbon called an early timeout as GRC jumped out ahead 10-4 in five minutes of play.

The Colonels brought themselves back in the game after the timeout to cut the deficit 13-9, including a buzzer-beating three to end the first quarter.

The Cards managed to jump out on a 7-0 run to start the second quarter and led to another Bourbon timeout.

The timeout once again woke the Colonels and they were able to cut the lead 20-15.

After a number of sloppy possessions for GRC, head coach Robbie Graham had seen enough and pulled the starters early in the second.

Bourbon took advantage and cut the margin to only four points 28-22 before the Cards’ starters returned after sitting on the bench for three minutes.

GRC jumped back out to a 34-22 halftime lead and buried Bourbon throughout the rest of the game.

Junior guard Kennedy Igo thought her team was sluggish to start the game.

“We started off a little slow,” she said. “Coach Graham talked to us at halftime and told us we have to turn up because they had the potential to beat us. We obviously don’t want to get beat so we can be the number one seed in the district.”

Igo admits she thought her team got too ahead of themselves pregame due to the 32-point victory the Lady Cards has over the Colonels in their first meeting two weeks ago.

“We came into the game thinking we already had it won,” she said. “We were only up five at halftime and that was still in our heads. We had to do something so we turned it around at a good time.”

Igo said it felt good to get a bounce-back district win after falling last weekend to nationally ranked Hamilton Heights out of Chattanooga, TN.

“We played well, but Hamilton were so big it was hard to handle them,” she said. “A win is a win so it feels good we got that tonight.”

The Lady Cards will travel to Louisville Friday and Saturday to compete in the prestigious Louisville Invitational Tournament, where some of the top teams in the state will be this weekend.

Igo said her team will have to play nearly perfect to win out the tournament.

“Last year, we got beat in the first round by two points,” she said. “This year, we are definitely going out there to try and win all three of them. We need effort and we need to work together in sync. We are all in different spots on the floor, but we have to get to the point where we all are working together.”

Igo led the Lady Cards’ with 23 points.

Hayley Harrison posted 16 points and Jasmine Flowers added 14 points.

Tip-off for the LIT Friday for GRC is 4:30 p.m.

Opponents have yet to be announced.