KINGSPORT - The Volunteer Lady Falcons bounced back from a flat game at Dobyns-Bennett last week and held off a furious, fourth-quarter rally to escape with a 73-66 Big 8 win Wednesday night at Sullivan South. 

"We played pretty good defense for three-and-a-half quarters. That kinda went by the wayside. Then we let them drive down the lane and shoot the ball," said Volunteer coach Jerry Myers. "Part of that was people fouling out. I thought we were going to run out of players."

Three Volunteer starters -- Ashley Lindholm, Jessie O'Dell and Katie McFarland -- fouled out. "That was one of the wildest games I've been a part of in a long time," Myers said.

The Lady Falcons fought the Lady Rebels to a 15-15 tie through the first period as sophomore standout Ashley Lindholm scored eight points.

"We called some plays for her early," said Myers. "We need to get her started, give her a big part of (the offense) and that opened it up for everybody else. She was very aggressive on offense in the first half and that got it going." 

Volunteer picked it up a notch in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Rebels, 20-11. The Lady Falcons worked the ball around for good shots, then hit them.

"We haven't had that in a lot of games," Myers said. "I don't think it's so much lack of confidence, we've just been tentative on offense. We're trying to get them out of that in practice, to be more aggressive and anticipate, know what's going to happen before it happens. They played well."

Volunteer started the second half with a 6-0 run, keyed by Rachel Snyder's four points, quickly giving the Lady Rebels a 15-point deficit to overcome, 41-26.

"Rachel Snyder played really well," said Myers. "She shot the ball well. She hasn't been shooting like she's capable of, so I'm glad to see her going. We had a lot of kids that played well."

 When the Lady Rebels pulled to within 41-35, Volunteer reeled off three, straight baskets to take a 47-35 lead.

The Lady Falcons kept the pressure on in the fourth quarter. Lindholm's free throw with 4:59 to play gave Volunteer (5-7, 2-4) its biggest lead, 61-45. 

South rallied, thanks to some over-aggressiveness by Volunteer.

"We kept trying to steal the ball when we didn't have to steal the ball," Myers said. "We had kids foul out doing that and we stopped the clock and sent them to the line. 

"You just don't want to try and steal the ball when you're up 10 late in the game. It's just over-hustle," he said. "But they're good kids and we're still young."

A 21-8 run by South pulled the Lady Rebels to within 69-66 with :29 left in the game. 

But Rachel Snyder hit 3-of-4 foul shots and Jenny Snyder hit 2-of-2 to finish the game. The Lady Falcons hit 12 of 14 free throws in the last two minutes to clinch the win. "We made some bad plays late in the game, but we made some good plays also," Myers said. "We had some kids step up and make some foul shots, look down the floor and hit the open person. 

"They played hard. It was a good effort." 

Lindholm scored 19, and Rachel Snyder and Gilliam had 17 apiece for the Lady Falcons. Makensey Campbell scored 24 to lead all scorers. Tyra Hutchins added 15. 

"This was one of our better games. When you get a win on the road in this league, it's something," Myers said.