The Lady Wildcats turned the ball over 21 times throughout the evening and the Lady Wolves' aggression in the paint netted them second and third shots under the offensive boards and helped them claim a 42-34 victory.
The loss closes Woodland's girls high school basketball season, dropping them to 4-20 overall. They finished 1-13 in the region. Rome advances to the next round of the region tournament with the win.
Woodland scored just four points in each of the first two quarters, and seven in the third. But the Lady Wildcats got their offense untracked in the final period, scoring 19 points -- more than the rest of the game -- while Rome stayed close by sinking 16.
"We prepared for their press all week but a couple of things got to us and we didn't do as well as we wanted," head coach Colman Roberts said. "I think we've improved, though. Looking at our past scores [against Rome] some of them have been ugly. We've been watching film all week and practicing a little extra. It paid off some although we're still disappointed we didn't win."
Woodland fell to Rome 61-42 on Dec. 10 and 65-35 on Jan. 25.
The Lady Wolves' press slowed offensive action to little more than a crawl in the first half.
Rome scored first with a 3-pointer almost 15 seconds into the game and Woodland answered with a 2-pointer by sophomore Emily Moore at the 6:01 mark.
The teams didn't score again until three minutes later, when the Lady Wolves pushed the score to 5-2. Woodland's Olivia Rutledge scored a minute later to close to 5-4 with 2:12 remaining. Rome added two free throws with less than a second remaining in the period, for a 7-4 lead at the quarter's end.
Rome added a foul shot early in the second quarter, for an 8-4 lead and Woodland countered with buckets by senior Jacqualinn Howell and freshman Brooke Hummel, to knot the score at 8-all, just over two minutes into the frame.
Rome answered with an 8-0 run and was up 16-8 at the break.
Woodland got a little more of its offensive juices flowing in the third quarter as Jessie Michaels buried a two-pointer and Moore went 2-of-4 at the foul line to pull within 18-12.
Once again Rome responded with a run, this time 8-3, and held a 26-15 margin after three quarters.
In the final period Woodland ratcheted up its offensive effort with some easy transition baskets to go along with some follow-up shots under the offensive board and some free throws to outscore Rome 19-16.
Roberts said point guard Hummel showed real improvement in running the offense.
"I told her she really grew up tonight," he said. "They have all improved. I think we had a good game plan and I'm proud of the girls."
He said the team benefited from its seniors [Rutledge, Ashley Watkins and Jacqualinn Howell] and he added they will be missed.
"I've been putting Olivia's name in our scoring books four years now, both in basketball and softball," he said. "It's going to be kind of odd not doing that."
He said the team now will take a few weeks off and then the athletes will start their off-season program: "We hope to have a good summer and try to get better and be better for next year."
Scoring for Woodland were Moore and Rutledge, with 8 each; Hummel, 7; Jessie Michaels, 4, Watkins and Howell, 2 each.