After coming up short in their previous five games, the Woodland High boys basketball team could finally breathe a sigh of relief Tuesday as it kept Rome at bay long enough for a 58-54 win.

Corey Tobin's free throw with three seconds left punctuated the win as the Wolves, who had no timeouts left, had no other options but to settle for Larry Bullock's halfcourt shot, which would have only changed the margin of defeat for the visitors.

"Man, it feels good to get a [win]," said Wildcats coach Mike Tobin, whose team had not won since Dec. 30 and lost four games by three points or less, including a one-point overtime loss to Forsyth Central. "We've really been snakebit."

As Tobin has preached all season, Woodland has to win games on the defensive side of the ball and he thought it did that.

"Defensively, we stepped it up more. We were more physical," he said. "[From the] second through fourth quarter, we were more aggressive, [we] fought fire with fire. ... [In the] first quarter, we just gave 'em too many good looks from the perimeter.

"You take away the first quarter, we played pretty good defense."

The Wildcats surrendered 21 first-quarter points, with Rome beating them to offensive rebounds to win extra possessions.

The Wolves opened the game with a 12-4 run and led by 10 points after eight minutes of basketball.

Woodland responded in the second quarter, led by Chandler Royal's seven points -- he scored six straight to make it 23-18 -- and rather stingy defense.

The Wildcats held Rome scoreless for much of the quarter, allowing them to get back into the game. Royal made a free throw with under 30 seconds remaining in the half to knot the game at 25-all, the first tie of the game since it was 0-0.

Isaiah Niblet's free throws put Woodland ahead 27-25 going into the locker room.

The third quarter remained close with both teams tying each other twice. The Wildcats led by six points on two occasions -- 37-31 and 39-33 -- but the Wolves chipped away at that lead and trailed 43-40 at the end of three quarters.

Woodland pushed its lead to seven to start the fourth quarter as Xavier Niblet knocked down a 3-pointer, Daryel Morris layed it up and Royal sank a free throw.

Rome fought its way back into the game, trimming the lead to two by the 2:23 mark.

Corey Tobin hit two foul shots and RJ Williams added a bucket -- on Adam Tobin's assist from near halfcourt -- a few seconds later to give Woodland a five-point lead, 55-50.

Taylor Shropshire, the Wolves' 6-foot-4 power forward, gave his team a chance to make it a two-point game when he corralled a pass from his teammate Jordan McClure and scored while being hit.

Shropshire, however, missed the freebie with 18.7 seconds and Tobin rebounded the miss.

Williams was perfect on his two foul shots all but eliminating the suspense, though John Davidson did put in an offensive rebound with 4.1 seconds remaining.

Mike Tobin said Woodland showed improvement at the line against Rome, going 16 for 22, remarkably different than its previous game, where it went 8 for 23 in a 62-50 loss to Lambert.

"We still got a lot of things to work on," Tobin added.

The coach said he is proud of the way the team carried itself, even in its losing streak.

"Obviously, we want to win every game ... but they're doing things the right way," Tobin said.

Niblet scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds for the Wildcats and Williams added 11. Davidson's 12 points and Shropshire's 11 points were tops for the Wolves.

On Friday, The Wildcats (11-7, 2-7 Region 7-AAAA) visit county rival and region opponent Cass (11-7, 4-4), who actually gave them the loss that began their losing streak. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m.

Woodland then hosts Chattahoochee, ranked No. 5 in this week's Ga.PrepCountry.com coaches' poll, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Rome 65, Woodland 35

The Woodland Lady Wildcats basketball team turned in a performance Tuesday that did not quite sit well with its coach, who was peeved after its 65-35 loss against visiting Rome.

"We expect our kids to get after it and show up and work hard," coach Colman Roberts said following his team's 30-point defeat. "We expect to win every game we play."

The Lady Wolves led 13-4 at the end of the first quarter, but Rome jumped ahead by 21 points at halftime, courtesy of a 23-point quarter.

Woodland played its best quarter of the game coming out of the locker room, nearly matching the Lady Wolves point for point as it went into the final quarter down 49-27.

Asked what his team needs to work on, Roberts said, "Every fundamental you can think of. ... We've got to quit trying to dribble through traps. ... We can't run it down [the floor and], turn it over. We can't run with those teams. We've got to be patient."

The Lady Wildcats are not able to play the tempo they are more suited for and their coach said the competition has much to do with that.

"We're in the meat of our season. There's not a slouch in this region," Roberts said. "We just got to toughen up and want to get better in practice."

Mariesha Harris scored 19 points to lead Rome and Summer Starr added 17 while Olivia Rutledge's 16 and Casey Bucy's 7 paced the Lady Wildcats.

Woodland (3-14, 0-8 Region 7-AAAA) will look to snap an 11-game losing streak Friday on the road against rival Cass, which beat the Lady Wildcats 34-30 Jan. 7.

The Lady Colonels (3-13, 1-7) lost to Seqoyah, 58-29, Tuesday.

The fourth-ranked team in the Ga.PrepCountry.com coaches' poll, Chattahoochee, comes calling for Woodland Saturday in Cartersville.

Both weekend games start at 6 p.m.