SPANISH FORT, Alabama — The Fairhope Lady Pirates improved their overall record to 5-4 with a 41-29 road win at Spanish Fort Tuesday night.

Fairhope pulled away from a two-point lead late in the third quarter as the Lady Toros stayed close after trailing 19-16 at the half. But the FHS defense denied the lane and rebounded well to re-extend the Lady Pirate lead to 30-26 to start the final period. Spanish Fort then went cold from the field as Fairhope made an 11-3 run, mostly with free throws down the stretch to solidify a victory. In their first meeting this season, the Lady Pirates held off a late SFHS rally to win 36-34 at Pirate Gym.

Senior guard Imani Kirksey led the Pirates with 14 points, 16 rebounds and seven steals. Haley Melton contributed 11 points and Kayla Dailey six for FHS. Spanish Fort's leading scorer Elaine Wood scored most of her 15 game-high points in the first half but did not make her usual quota in the second.

"She was our focus. We were focused on limiting her (Wood) tonight," said Fairhope head coach Jessica Webb. "In the first half we did not do well on her because we fouled her—sent her to the free-throw line way too much. In the second half, we had the same game plan, we just didn't foul her as much. We made her take some tough shots without fouling her. And then we made some smart plays offensively that helped a lot. Imani had a great game all around, Haley—our shooting guard did well, Sidney—our point guard did a great job distributing the ball. Especially in the second half when Spanish Fort made a couple of runs on us.

Webb added that defense and free-throw shooting was key.

"Defensively, I was proud of the way we played in the second half. We did a better job of being more disciplined, and we made our free throws at the end to put the game away. But we need to do a better job of that for the whole game. We have to do a better job of executing on offense and taking what the defense gives us. We tried to force some things in the first half instead of taking what the defense was giving. But we are learning and we are still real young, (Kirksey is the only senior) and that will come with time."

Spanish Fort fell to a game under .500 (6-7) with the loss.

Toros’ coach Angie Puckett said her team is still playing well in spurts and still looking for a way to produce a full, well-rounded game at both ends of the court.

“We did a poor job of free throw shooting,” she said. “When we had a chance to come back, we didn’t capitalize. We played hard, but we just didn’t shoot well from the field, especially down the stretch.  A lot of it is us not being patient on offense and thinking we have to score in the first five seconds (of offensive transition). We have to get that out of our system. When we do a better job of looking for good opportunities and not rushing it and can do that throughout the game, then we usually win. We usually start off our games aggressively and get off to early leads, but we need to find a way to maintain it better all the way through."

The Lady Pirates will play in the St. Paul’s Christmas tournament Friday and open with LeFlore at 4:30 p.m.

The Toros will travel to play at Fort Walton Beach (Fla.) against South Walton at 8:30 a.m., Dec. 27 in the Choctaw High Holiday tournament.