Clark guard Lexxus Graham dribbles the ball up the court in an earlier-season contest at Norton Gymnasium. The Lady Cardinals will take on rival Montgomery County at 6 p.m. Friday. The boys¿ contest will follow at approximately 8 p.m. (Sun photo by Bill Thiry).
Robbie Graham will get his first taste in the rivalry with Montgomery County as a head coach when the two border neighbors meet for the first time this season Friday night at Norton Gymnasium.
George Rogers Clark and the Lady Indians will face each other in the first game of a doubleheader set for 6 p.m. The boys contest between the Cardinals and the Indians will follow at 8 p.m.
Graham already has knowledge of the rivalry after serving the previous seven years as an assistant coach at Clark, but will get another view this time around in what will be a high stakes 40th District encounter for both teams.
“It will be a good atmosphere, it always is,” Graham said earlier this week. “It will be a real good crowd, but it’s just one game though and not the whole season. It’s a district game, and we’ll practice hard and prepare hard for the game and see what happens.
“Their program is a standard for the 10th Region right now and a lot of us are looking up to them. We eventually want to get to where they are. For us to be No. 1 in district play, this is a game that we need to try to go after and get.”
The Lady Cardinals (1-4) are 1-0 in the district after defeating Bourbon County last week in¿Paris. The Lady Cardinals followed that contest with a 48-32 loss at Henry Clay earlier this week.
“I was really worried about the game (against Henry Clay), because I didn’t know how we would respond after coming off a big win,” Graham said. “Our response wasn’t what I thought it would be. We missed a lot of easy shots and that kind of deflated us a little bit.”
Graham said the team’s top priority against the Lady Indians will be taking care of the basketball and attacking the press.
“The key against anybody we play is handling the basketball,” Graham said. “We’ve got to do a better job of handling the traps when people press us. We’ve just got to take care of the basketball and look to convert and attack. That’s going to be a key.”
The Cardinals (1-4) lost their first four games, but got a breakthrough earlier this week with a 75-67 victory over Paris in the district opener for both teams. Clark coach Scott Humphrey said the win was a positive one for his team, but added that his squad has plenty of room for improvement. In preparation for the Indians, Humphrey said his squad has focused on getting better. He added that Tuesday and today are “just as important”¿as Friday’s game and a Saturday contest against Russell at Lewis County.
“There is just so much that we have to do,” the Clark coach said. “We are still in a position to where we just have to worry about Clark County.”
Humphrey is still determining a consistent rotation following the first five games. Some players are competing in junior varsity and varsity contests.
“There’s no such thing as JV¿and no such thing as varsity right now,” Humphrey said. “We’re going to play the hot hand.”
The Indians are 5-1 under first-year and former Georgetown College coach Happy Osborne, and feature one of the 10th Region’s top players in senior Omar Prewitt.
The senior standout committed to William and Mary prior to the season and is ranked among the Top 10 players in the state. Osborne is the Indians’ second coach in three years.
George Rogers Clark and the Lady Indians will face each other in the first game of a doubleheader set for 6 p.m. The boys contest between the Cardinals and the Indians will follow at 8 p.m.
Graham already has knowledge of the rivalry after serving the previous seven years as an assistant coach at Clark, but will get another view this time around in what will be a high stakes 40th District encounter for both teams.
“It will be a good atmosphere, it always is,” Graham said earlier this week. “It will be a real good crowd, but it’s just one game though and not the whole season. It’s a district game, and we’ll practice hard and prepare hard for the game and see what happens.
“Their program is a standard for the 10th Region right now and a lot of us are looking up to them. We eventually want to get to where they are. For us to be No. 1 in district play, this is a game that we need to try to go after and get.”
The Lady Cardinals (1-4) are 1-0 in the district after defeating Bourbon County last week in¿Paris. The Lady Cardinals followed that contest with a 48-32 loss at Henry Clay earlier this week.
“I was really worried about the game (against Henry Clay), because I didn’t know how we would respond after coming off a big win,” Graham said. “Our response wasn’t what I thought it would be. We missed a lot of easy shots and that kind of deflated us a little bit.”
Graham said the team’s top priority against the Lady Indians will be taking care of the basketball and attacking the press.
“The key against anybody we play is handling the basketball,” Graham said. “We’ve got to do a better job of handling the traps when people press us. We’ve just got to take care of the basketball and look to convert and attack. That’s going to be a key.”
The Cardinals (1-4) lost their first four games, but got a breakthrough earlier this week with a 75-67 victory over Paris in the district opener for both teams. Clark coach Scott Humphrey said the win was a positive one for his team, but added that his squad has plenty of room for improvement. In preparation for the Indians, Humphrey said his squad has focused on getting better. He added that Tuesday and today are “just as important”¿as Friday’s game and a Saturday contest against Russell at Lewis County.
“There is just so much that we have to do,” the Clark coach said. “We are still in a position to where we just have to worry about Clark County.”
Humphrey is still determining a consistent rotation following the first five games. Some players are competing in junior varsity and varsity contests.
“There’s no such thing as JV¿and no such thing as varsity right now,” Humphrey said. “We’re going to play the hot hand.”
The Indians are 5-1 under first-year and former Georgetown College coach Happy Osborne, and feature one of the 10th Region’s top players in senior Omar Prewitt.
The senior standout committed to William and Mary prior to the season and is ranked among the Top 10 players in the state. Osborne is the Indians’ second coach in three years.
