DAPHNE, Ala. — Daphne's Lady Trojans (17-7) won the 6A Area 3 girls basketball championship at home 42-32 over Fairhope's Lady Pirates (14-12) Monday night.

The final Monday was a back-and-forth battle much of the way, but the Lady Trojans managed to finish each period with a slight lead. Trailing 20-18 at the half, the Lady Pirates scored five unanswered points and held the lead for the first six minutes of the third quarter. But Daphne retook the lead and held a 31-29 edge going into the final quarter.

Led by Megan Dowdy Fairhope opened up with another burst to close the margin to one point 32-31 with 7:12 left in the game. But back-to-back 3-point shots by Amber Yelding and Amanda Patton for Daphne helped the Lady Trojans eventually build their largest lead to that point of 38-30 near the three-minute-remaining mark.

Down the stretch, the free-throw factor favored the Lady Trojans who kept the ball in their best shooter's hands, Yelding, as much as possible. The Lady Pirates had little choice in who to foul and Yelding nailed four straight free throws in the final seconds to seal the deal.

Overall DHS shot 10-of-14 free throws while FHS went 5-for-13.

A junior, Yelding was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player and was joined on the all-area-tournament team by teammate Sierra Patterson of DHS, Fairhope's Dowdy, Robertsdale's Shelia Dailey, and Foley's Brittney Davis.

Yelding led all scorers in the game with a game-high 21 points while teammates Cherilyn Ramsey added six, Kirsten Henton five, Patterson four, while Patton and Cherese Hunter had three each. For Fairhope, Dowdy led with 15 points while Anna Raley added eight, Raven Priolo had five, and Abby Phillips and Kali Martin scored two each.

The last area title claimed by the Lady Trojans came in 2007 when then head coach Scott Smith decided to take a break from coaching. Denise Grooms led the Lady Trojans the next three seasons, including two area runner-up finishes. This year, boys head coach Cedric Yelding led the girls until the holiday break when Smith and assistant Bryan Hunter took over again.

Smith said the title really belongs to the players as well as Grooms and Yelding for their input.

“This is the first area title for these seniors,” he said. “A lot of people will see me and think I had something to do with it but it really goes back to coach Grooms and Yelding working with these kids. I’m proud and happy for the kids. They deserve it.”

As an area champion Daphne advanced to host a 6A sub-regional Thursday night with McGill-Toolen Catholic while area runner-up Fairhope travels to meet 6A Area 4 champ Baldwin County High in Bay Minette Thursday.