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If there was a moment that summed up Monday's girls game between Free State High and Olathe South it was Ashley Taul's first of two free throws with a 1:52 left in the third quarter.

Taul's shot simply could have rolled out or bounced off the backboard, but that would've been too easy.

Free State's Stacie Garland grapples with Olathe South's Shannon Tamisiea for the ball. The Falcons rallied for a 42-36 victory Monday night at the FSHS gym.

Instead, the ball spun around inside the rim before hesitating and spilling out onto the court as the small crowd in the Free State High stands groaned in disbelief.

It was the epitome of Monday's Sunflower League contest, which Free State lost 42-36 after squandering a lead it held for three quarters.

A game that was competitive but leaned more toward ugly as the two teams combined for 52 turnovers, 40 fouls and shot a dismal 30 percent from the field (27 of 89).

"We play a lot of ugly games," Free State coach Craig Hershiser said. "If that's what it is, that's what it is. There's never a note after the game that says if you won ugly it's either a win or a loss."

For the majority of Monday's game the Firebirds (3-4 overall, 1-2 league) put themselves in the position to win, despite turnovers, foul trouble and lackluster rebounding.

Free State was brilliant the first minute of the first quarter and the final two minutes of the quarter when they scored all nine of their points and popped in jumpers with ease, taking a 9-3 lead.

Olathe South (7-2, 2-1) hit the glass hard in the second and overcame its 11 first-quarter turnovers by outrebounding and outscoring Free State 13-12 in the quarter to trail by five at the break despite shooting just 22 percent from the field.

	Video highlights of the game available at http://www.ljworld.com/ section/sportslocal

"We couldn't shoot to save our lives," said Olathe South coach Steve Ingram. "Free State was playing good defense."

The game's intensity remained high after the break but so did the sloppy play and neither team could make a run, in part because of the 15 combined turnovers in the quarter.

But by the third quarter's end Olathe South was picking up steam.

The Falcons went on a 5-0 sizz with two baskets in the final 35 seconds and were down just 26-25 going into the fourth.

Free State High's Amber Hinton drives on Olathe South's Rachel Jensen. O-South beat Free State, 42-36, on Monday at FSHS.

Free State, which finished with 28 turnovers, gave away the ball on its first possession in the quarter and Olathe South took its first lead, 27-26, when Rachel Jensen hit a turnaround jumper in the lane with 7:42 left.

Free State answered on Kirby Beneventi's soft jumper from the corner.

But that would be the last lead Free State enjoyed.

Olathe South's Brandi Wolf, who hit three three-pointers in the second half and scored a game-high 15 points, dropped in a trey for the lead and the Falcons outscored the Firebirds 12-8 the rest of the way and outrebounded them 11-5 in the fourth.

"It's nice to have a chance to win when you're playing with the lead," Ingram said. "We finally put a couple of things together.

"(A win), that's all you care about in the end."

Free State still had a chance for a rally but right after Jayme Lisher hit a free throw to cut the game to 30-29 she fouled out. Free State then committed four straight turnovers and Olathe South went on an 11-2 run to end it.

Firebirds' guard Stacie Garland scored a career-high 11 points, while Lauren Wright added nine and Beneventi scored eight.

"All in all we competed very hard," Hershiser said. "We responded to some things that they did and we can take some positives from that.

"Offensively we kind of hurt ourselves with some turnovers and ill timed situations and we needed to do a better job rebounding."

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