A home loss to Riverside was nearly a win to Lady Spartans coach Jessica Shevitz.

One bad quarter cost Laurel, which battled the Lady Panthers, leaders of Section 2-AA, in a tightly contested matchup. The Lady Spartans (3-4, 7-9), who were blown out by 43 the last time the two teams met, were without Rachael Baker, Ellen Shaffer and lost Aislinn Deinert in the second quarter to injury.

“If there’s a such thing as a good loss, this was it,” Laurel coach Jessica Shevitz said. “I kind of called out my post players (Deinert and Jessica Conrad) over the weekend, and you wanna talk about them coming out and playing a heck of a game tonight. Sometimes you say something bad to them and they don’t respond, but they really stepped up.”

Deinert scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds before leaving with what appeared to be a shoulder or neck injury, Shevitz said. Conrad scored a career-high 15 points and also snared seven boards. The Lady Spartans trailed 29-25 at halftime, but a rough third quarter in which they were outscored 16-6 ruined their hopes of an upset.