The George Rogers Clark Lady Cards will be heading to their third straight 10th Region championship after overcoming a rocky first half against the Scott High School Eagles Monday.

GRC trailed 14-8 after the first quarter and started to pick up the slack in the second to even the score 22-22 at the half.

The game was not looking promising for GRC as Scott rolled over the Lady Cards in the first few minutes of the third quarter by going on an 11-0 run and led 33-22.

GRC flipped a switch and started to click once Kennedy Igo nailed back-to-back threes and an and-one from Maleaha Bell brought GRC back within four points 35-31 with two minutes left in the third.

The Lady Cards followed closely behind the Eagles 39-34 heading into the fourth quarter.

With two minutes left to play, Igo drilled her fifth three-pointer to even the score 43-43 and electrified the crowd.

Scott missed the front end of a one-and-one freethrow and made the second to go up 44-43.

A steal from Brianna Byars and an easy lay in for two of her 11 points off the bench helped retake the lead and the Eagles had a melt down.

Scott went on to turn the ball over the next three possessions and allowed the Cards to take advantage to steal the game.

Igo finished with a game-high 25 points.

Head coach Robbie Graham gave all the credit to Scott for coming out ready to play.

“It was definitely a tough game,” he said. “We knew it was going to be tough going in. I’ve said this time and time again that Mya Meredeth is not only one of the top players in the region, but she’s one of the top players in the state. She has a lot of game. Summer Secrist has a heart of a warrior and champion. It’s her senior year and you could tell she didn’t want to go down. We knew they were going to be prepared. We’ve played them the last three or four years in the region tournament and we knocked them out so we knew they were going to be fired up. We didn’t have our best game and we weren’t making shots. We had some good looks and they just weren’t going in. They kicked our tail in the first half, but we did a much better job in the second half.”

Graham said his team also cut down on the turnovers in the second half which was their weakness in the first half.

“We had a lot of live-ball turnovers in the first half which kept leading to easy scores for them,” he said. “We kept telling them that if you’re going to throw it away, at least throw it away in the stands to your mom. 10-count and five-count turnovers don’t kill us. Those live-ball turnovers that lead to buckets will wear you out. When we handled the basketball, we were able to get better shots and were aggressive at the rim.”

When GRC dug into the hole of falling behind 11 points to start the third quarter before Igo’s two three-pointers, Graham said Igo is never scared of the moment.

“She’s stone-cold,” he said. “The moment doesn’t bother her a bit. She wanted the ball and said ‘Coach, we’re not losing this game. We’re here together and I got you.’ She has the heart of a champion and is a fighter. She’s such a competitor and a team-person. She kind of shies away from the attention at times, but she wants to be all about the team. Maleaha (Bell) played better in the second half and Jas (Flowers) struggled a little bit. Bri (Byars), what about our youngster? Sometimes they’re too young and too goofy for the moment. They don’t realize the importance of the moment, but it’s basketball. Go play. She did a heck of a job and it was a team effort. Hayley (Harrison) gutted out there in some pain and stuck it out. I’m very proud of this team. It’s going to be a tough battle tomorrow, but if they want to go to Rupp Arena then they’re going to have to win some wars.”

GRC will take on the 25-7 Harrison County Fillies in the region championship Tuesday night for a back-to-back.

The Lady Cards were able to have a few days to prepare after defeating St. Patrick last Thursday and will have limited time to prepare for Harrison.

Graham said his team has worked all season for this moment and they will be ready when the time comes.

“We’ve played in four tournaments this season,” he said. “We’ve played back-to-back nights to prepare for this moment so that’s not going to be a factor. Harrison also played tonight and it’ll be back-to-back for them. You can’t sleep on anybody. We know it’s going to be a great game. It’ll be a tremendous atmosphere and we’re glad to be there.”

Tipoff will be 7 p.m. at Montgomery County.