DAPHNE, Alabama — A last-second, back-court steal by Daphne’s Kadesha (DeeDee) Koen sealed a 29-27 home-court, 6A Area 3 win over visiting arch-rival Fairhope Tuesday night.

Daphne’s Lady Trojans (11-5, 3-0) had trailed by many and few points most of the game, but a four-point burst to start the final quarter even things at 22-22. The Lady Pirates’ (8-8, 1-3) strong zone defense and half-court-tempo offense had frustrated DHS and their typical run-and-gun game.

Down 17-11 at the half, Daphne head coach Tereance Pinkney said his girls didn’t panic.

"Considering how bad we shot the ball in the first half (4-of-26 from the field) and as good as Fairhope was playing, we were in good shape to only be down by six points.

“I just told the team at halftime that as bad as we were shooting and with the success that Fairhope was having with the half-court game, let’s try to slow the game down some, too. Break the zone down some, work the ball inside more and try to draw some fouls, get to the free throw line and we would be OK."

Fairhope head coach Jessica Webb said the game plan was effective for three periods, but as in most of the Lady Pirates’ losses this season, her team failed to maintain the early momentum.

“We didn’t finish,” she said. “We freaked out a little at the end. Stopped doing all the things we were doing right up to the last quarter to get the lead and hold it. We started missing shots, stopped moving on defense, both of my posts got in foul trouble late in the third and Daphne capitalized. And that’s when they made that run.”

Kirsten Henton had a game-high 13 points for Daphne which hit 8-of-13 free throws, teammate Cherese Hunter added seven points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Lady Trojans.

Imani Kirksey led visiting Fairhope with 11 points, Haley Melton added nine and Sidney White five. FHS was 5-for-9 at the line.

The Lady Pirates led 7-3 after the first quarter, 17-11 at halftime and 22-18 to start the final eight-minute period. Overall Daphne outscored Fairhope 11-5 in the comeback run as Henton and Hunter made some key grabs off the boards. McKenzie Dean made a strong offensive put back for the Pirates to make it a 2 point game (29-27) with 1:01 to go then forced a turnover to give FHS a shot to tie or retake the lead. But a Henton rebound limited the FHS attempts and forced a foul on Koen. The DHS senior missed the front end and a Fairhope rebound gave the Pirates another chance, but Koen’s steal with nine seconds to go preserved the DHS win.

"My girls just kept fighting all night,” Pinkney said. “We got behind early but they never quit. DeeDee felt bad about missing that shot at the line and she hustled back and made a big play. They take pride in defending their home court. We knew coming in tonight that is was going to be a dogfight with Fairhope. It always is. Coach Webb does a great job every year for them. Cherese, Kirsten and Taylor (Wright) played hard tonight on the inside. And they didn’t give up. Proud of them and I'm proud of the way that all my girls fought and came back to win the game."

DHS will host Robertsdale (9-8) in another 6A Area 3 showdown Friday at 6 p.m. Fairhope is set to host RHS Jan. 15 at 6 p.m.