MOBILE, Ala. – The Lady Dolphins fell behind early, but pulled to within three points of tying the score with Baker High in the championship game of the Christmas Invitational tournament at Cottage Hill Christian Academy last week, but the Lady Hornets prevailed to take a 41-27 win.

Trailing 21-11 to start the second half, the Gulf Shores defense stiffened and Laura Peavy led an offensive rally to make it 27-24 with 1:05 left in the period.

But Baker responded in the fourth quarter and rebuilt their lead to 10 points 34-24 by the middle of the final period and held GSHS to three the rest of the way.

Peavy scored 10 points in the final game to lead Gulf Shores which went 2-1 in the three-day tournament. The GSHS shooting guard was named to the all-tournament team along with MVP Natasha Lilly of Baker and Bayside Academy's Danielle diPretoro.

Bayside's Lady Admirals finished fourth in the eight-team event after falling to Parkview Baptist of Baton Rouge (La.) 43-38 in the consolation contest.

Gulf Shores head coach Rhett Tranchina said his team needed to keep the score low to defeat a fast, break-driven Lady Hornets team.

“If we hold them to 30, 35 points we have a chance,” he said. “It's just the speed of the game. Their speed is just a little quicker.”

Turnovers and low percentage free-throw shooting hurt the Lady Dolphins late in the game. GSHS went 2-for-5 while Baker went 5-for-11 at the line.

“Laura sparked us at the end of the third quarter,” Thanchina said. “But we threw the ball in the air a few times. Baker put some pressure on us and when we mishandled the ball a little bit, they had it.”

Khadijah Jackson scored eight points for GSHS while teammates Nicole Wallace added four, Meagan Davis three and Sarah Uter two. The Lady Dolphins headed into the new year 12-6 overall and faced 5A region 2 rival Spanish Fort to open the rest of the season.

Bayside also faced a region opponent in Washington County having taken a 6-8 record out of the holiday tournament. But the Lady Admirals are 2-0 in 3A Region 1 play with a pair of early wins over Excel.

In the consolation game, Bayside trailed Parkview 22-15 at the half and stayed behind by about the same margin until 1:16 remained when a rally brought them to within four points at 36-32.

Bayside head coach Brittany Davidson said she was proud of how her team kept battling after falling behind.

“I'm proud of how we came back at the end,” she said. “We didn't give up and we kept fighting.”

In spite of out rebounding Parkview, Bayside failed to convert possession into points. Both teams were about 50-percent at the line. Parkview went 11-for-21. Bayside was 10-of-22.

“We played aggressive. But maybe too aggressive at times,” Davidson said. “Sometimes we play out of control and get in a hurry. We need to learn when to speed things up and when to slow it down.”

Gabby Deshotel had 10 points for the Lady Admirals against Parkview. diPretoro added nine, Virginia Pittman eight, Brittany Houseman five with Caroline Beebe, Jhalen Caffey and Harper Morrison each scoring two and Maggie Cooper one.