The Mathews High School varsity girls’ basketball team lost a 44-41 contest Monday night to the conference-leading Charles City Lady Panthers.

The Blue Devils fell behind early, but clawed their way back to take a three-point lead in the first half. A mental breakdown by the Mathews defense gave the Panthers a three-point halftime lead.

For the rest of the game, Mathews stayed point-for-point with the hosts, but fell behind by four points with seconds left on the clock.

Coach Tommy Eriksen told the team while he was disappointed in the lack of defensive effort at times, he was still encouraged by the Lady Blue Devils’ ability to go into the first-place team’s gym and play them tight throughout.

Mathews will need that entire team effort in the next two weeks as the Lady Devils close out the regular season and enter the Conference 42 tournament.

Taylor South led the team in scoring with 11 points in Monday night&r...