[Back In The Saddle]

I had a situation happen tonight that I had not considered before, and I want to know what you think.

V misses a basket and H gets the rebound. While heading up the floor, looking to get the outlet pass, running pretty much shoulder to shoulder with her opponent and trying to get past her, the H point guard steps OOB. Not far, her outside foot was probably an inch, maybe two, outside the line. Next step she's back on the floor, and the next step she catches the outlet pass.

So, in a very real sense she did leave the floor while trying to get past her defender. So the rule, as written, would probably apply. And it happened right in front of the V coach, who wanted the call.

OTOH, a step OOB that minor, if it happened on the end line when a player was trying to get around a screen, I certainly wouldn't have done more than tell the player to stay on the floor. And, I'm pretty certain it was not a deliberate act and the player had no idea she had stepped OOB.

What do you think? Are the two situations enough different that I shouldn't compare them? Should I have called this violation, no matter how minor?