DAPHNE, Alabama — The Daphne Lady Trojans broke away from a four-point half time lead (29-25) early in the second half to defeat Baker 62-51 at home at Trojan Gym on Tuesday night.

Amber Yelding led the floor with a game-high 30 points, Kirsten Hinton added 13 and Sierra Patterson finished with 11 for the Daphne girls who improved to 8-3 overall. Jewel Hill scored 20 to lead the Lady Hornets (6-6).

“Eight and three at this point I think is pretty good and considering who we have played, maybe real good,” said DHS head coach Tereance Pinkney, whose team has only lost to a Top-10 team in No. 3 Murphy twice and to Williamson which recently upset No. 6 Blount.

“We have lulls that let other teams back in the game too much,” Pinkney said. “It almost seems like sometimes they have to feel pressure to play their best. But I’m also beginning to think that we need to work on conditioning more. Tonight it seemed like our legs weren’t there. You could see it at the free throw line. We looked weak armed on some shots. But against a Williamson or a Murphy, you have to run and be in shape to go full out for long stretches sometimes. I think that’s one thing we need to focus on over the break, rest some, then get our legs back. I would like to see more aggressiveness on the boards more consistently. I was very pleased with Kirsten tonight and last night at Vigor. She scored in double figures there too and had a a good night rebounding. But we need everybody to step up when they are in the game to possess the ball. You have got to want it. Our defense is doing a good job, causing turnovers, giving us a chance to score. But, we still need to do a better job of taking care of the ball once we get it.”

Daphne built a 42-27 lead less than four minutes into the third quarter but faltered offensively and started the fourth leading 44-35.

“We started out sluggish in the first half, but took off great in the second half. Then let up a little again, made some mistakes trying to force passes and they made a run,” Pinkney said. “But we turned it back up and finished strong. I’m proud of the effort. They had another one of their lulls, lost some momentum, but they never quit. They found it and like I said, finished strong. But we definitely need to make more free throws. Teams that do well in the tournaments and the playoffs make their free throws.”

By the midpoint of the final period the Daphne lead was 15 (54-39). DHS was 22-of-31 at the line. Baker was 8-for-12.

The Lady Trojans will face the Lady Patriots at Pace High, Pace (Fla.), in the first game of a four-team round robin at 6 p.m. Tuesday in the Pace High Christmas Tournament. Daphne then will host Williamson Jan. 3 for a rematch with the Lady Lions. The Lady Trojans will pick up the 6A Region 3 campaign Jan. 10 at Fairhope.