The Lady Spartans raced to a 19-1 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a Section 2-AA road win over New Brighton.

“I feel like we’re one of those teams that plays up against good teams, but we’ve had a bad habit of playing down, too,” Laurel coach Jessica Shevitz said. “New Brighton is in a rebuilding year. I was really preaching defense and taking care of business early and that’s what we did.

“We went down and took care of business right from the tip. I’m very pleased with our play. We played unbelievable defense in the first half.”

It marked the first win on the Lady Lions’ home floor for Shevitz, who is in her fourth season at the helm.

“It felt good,” Shevitz said of the win. “The seniors were happy.”

Jessica Conrad registered a game-high 13 points for Laurel (2-1, 6-4) and Ellen Shaffer was next with 12. Rachael Baker handed out five assists and Kristin Dicks recorded five steals.

Lacey Eakin led New Brighton (0-4, 0-9) with four points.