Drawing the line on 'contact'???

[bob jenkins]

Originally posted by WyMike
First year working BB and I'm having trouble with this scenario. This happened a number of times in a 7th grade girls game over the weekend:

A1 is bringing ball up from the backcourt into frontcourt with B1 running along A1's left side in the same direction. A1 has her left arm up but not out in a flagrant "guarding the ball from defender" attempt but still a marginal shielding type of move (which I guess is very prevalent in young girl games?).

B1 reaches over A1's left arm without contacting the arm and tips the ball away. After the ball is loose A1 and B1 make shoulder contact and both stumble and go to ground. Is this a black and white 'pushing' foul on B1? What if they don't go down but contact is still made?

Frequently, A's first reaction to having the ball tipped away is to swing the "free" arm out and hold B from getting to the ball. Could be a foul on A.