Laurel turned up the defensive pressure in its win over Section 1-AA host New Brighton.

The Lady Spartans (2-7, 7-10) held New Brighton to just three first-half points and held a 32-3 advantage heading into the second half.

“Strong defensive effort, we played the entire bench tonight,” Laurel coach Jessica Shevitz said. “To play that many girls and keep up that defensive intensity was nice. It was a good one.

“The goal was to hold them under 20 and we really talked about that a lot. We play Ellwood on Saturday, so we only have one day to get ready for Shenango. We wanted to use this to catapult us to the next section game.”

Ellen Shaffer tallied 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Kristin Dicks added 12 points, five steals and four assists for the victors.

Tara McFadden led the Lady Lions (0-8, 1-14) with six points.