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I haven't been on here in a long time, but this is an interesting play to look at. I do not have my NFHS books with me here at work and I don't remember the actual wording in the NFHS rules book, but according the the NCAA women's rules book;
Art. 1. The ball is at the disposal of a player when it is:
a. Handed to the thrower-in or free-thrower;
b. Caught by the thrower-in or the free-thrower after it is bounced to her;
c. Placed at a spot on the floor; or
d. Available to a player after a goal and the official begins the throw-in count.
According to d, in this situation, the ball is not yet live. The question remains, however, is the contact incidental and to be ignored, or is it flagrant or excessive (again the NCAA women's terminology). Determining that portion of this play is difficult, especially just watching a clip and not being on the floor working the game. I can see an argument for either a no call or a dead ball contact technical.
I think the bigger lesson here is how the crew handled this situation. This is not a standard, happens every night play, especially considering it was in state tournament play where everything is magnified. I would have liked to see at least two of the officials come together and talk about what happened. Someone should have asked the calling official, "do we have a live ball, or a dead ball?" Stop and talk about how things are going to be administered, and then go to the table. We are a crew on games so that we can talk and get rulings correct. On strange plays like this, as a crew, we also help each other through talking and clarifying the rules portion so that the calling official is prepared to answer questions from coaches and the crew administers the penalties correctly.
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