The Lady Spartans gave the Lady Panthers a battle before dropping a Section 1-AA home matchup.

Laurel (1-7, 6-10) trailed 31-21 at the break.

“We played with a lot of heart,” Laurel coach Jessica Shevitz said. “You can’t take away effort from these girls.

“We pretty much know the playoffs are off the table at this point and the girls are still playing very hard. When we went in at halftime down 10, that was a huge improvement from the first time that we played them.”

Ellen Shaffer supplied a team-high 16 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks for the Lady Spartans. Diana Pontius provided nine markers.

Shelby Miles pulled down eight boards to go with her four points.

“Ellen continues to put up her numbers,” Shevitz said. “Watching Miles play like that was nice.

“Everyone that played contributed in some way. It was a good team effort.”

Katie Stang netted 26 points for Riverside (6-2, 13-2).