Another heartbreaker for Boone Grove

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Updated: March 9, 2012 8:22AM

NORTH JUDSON — Another stellar regular season ended all-too-prematurely in the postseason for Boone Grove girls basketball.

The Wolves fell 50-44 to Rochester in the first round of the Class 2A North Judson Sectional on Tuesday night. The Zebras (15-6) advanced to Friday’s second semifinal against Hebron. In Tuesday’s first game, Winamac topped North Judson 59-46. The Warriors (16-5) will play North Newton on Friday.

In a back-and-forth second game, neither team led by more than four points until Rylee Holland’s two free throws gave Rochester a 43-37 lead with 1:40 left in the game. The Zebras went 9-of-12 from the foul line down the stretch as part of an 11-of-14 fourth quarter to keep the Wolves (19-3) at bay.

“We kind of shot ourselves in the foot, especially in the first half,” said Boone coach Candy Wilson, whose team went 8-of-9 from the line in the fourth but just 1-of-11 from the field. “We didn’t take care of the ball. We played faster than we needed to, and had some silly fouls.”

Rochester led 12-11 after the first quarter, 18-17 after two, and 35-34 after three. The Zebras took that lead into the fourth when Abbie Malchow made three free throws with no time on the clock after Paige Aguilera — she fouled out with 31.2 seconds left in the game, after Emily Bobrowski, who picked up two fouls in the game’s first 1:51, had fouled out with 52.3 seconds left — was called for her fourth foul.

“She was just trying to get a hand up, and got her on that. ... That was one of several things we had done,” Wilson said. “It just snowballed.”

Brittany Shaffer had a game-high 16 points for Boone, and Julie Hogg 10.

“It was a great season,” said Wilson, whose team lost its second straight sectional opener, after last season’s loss to No. 2 Culver. “We had more ups than downs. But this sectional has been our demise recently. It’s a tough sectional, there are good teams. It’s one of those games you’d like to replay. But it’s one-and-done. Everyone is 0-0.”

In the first game, Winamac led 43-28 after three quarters, before North Judson (13-8) drew as close as 52-46 with 1:07 left in the game. Jessica Schramm led the Warriors with 13 points, and Katy Anspach added 10. Elisabeth White paced the Bluejays with 13 points, and Jordann Frasure added 10.