[DownTownTonyBrown]

Working first game of my season last evening - Girls Varsity.

About midway through 4th quarter (game is way lopsided - home team is winning by 25. We've called enough fouls for two games but the players won't quit. Girls, what can one expect. Both coaches have been very agreeable and peaceful - the way we like it.)... anyway...

I'm Lead. As the shooter pivoted toward the basket the defender forcefully lowered her arms across both of the shooters arms. Tweet. Facing away from me, the defender fell to her knees and slapped both hands on the floor and as I'm reaching for my whistle (thinking this might be a time for an unsporting T) she gets up and untucks her shirt and heads for her bench. Now I'm thinking that this might be her 5th foul. I look at the scoreboard and sure enough it shows 5 fouls for her. I continue out to the center of the court to make my report to the table. The scoreboard operator shows that it is 5 fouls. "Is that 5 fouls?" The home book is shaking his head yes for five fouls. The player is already setting on the bench. I look to the visiting coach and say that must be 5 and he politely asks "I've got 30 seconds right?" I answer, "Absolutely." He gives me a sub in 5 seconds and we go back to shoot the free throws. We shoot the 1st and I look to the table. The visiting coach is now on the wrong side of the table and angrily asking for a time-out. "Do you want a time-out?" No response; he has turned and headed back to his bench. The table is beckoning me. I blow my whistle and head for the table. Coach is now coming back yelling that his player "doesn't have 5 fouls she has 2 fouls! Check with the book before you tell me a player has 5 fouls." That's what I did. The score keepers are now saying that they had incorrectly told me the player had 5 fouls and that some how the scoreboard tally was also wrong. So I asked the coach "Do you want her back in?" But he was (surprisingly) so angry that I'm not sure he even heard me. So we continued with the current players. His two foul player subsituted back in another minute or so later.

The confusion may have been that fact that this player has a sister on the team also and they look remarkably similar. Maybe the home book was giving fouls to the wrong player... maybe the visiting team was pulling a fast one.

After it was all done, it was .... Hey! I did what I was supposed to do (besides having my partner report the 5th foul - new mechanic) but there was nothing I did wrong... was there?

Anyone else have weird stuff like that happen yet this season? I thought it was funny after all was said and done.