get me out of this mess

[boiseball]

.2 seconds left (yes less than a second); ball at half court with visitors; tie game; so no way this game is doing anything except go to overtime, right?? these are crappy small school varsity girls who cannot even throw the ball half of the court.

I hand the ball to the girl to bring the ball in. She kind of drops it and then picks it up and looks up to bring the ball in bounds; suddenly, girl gaurding the inbounds decides to strip her; the ball is more than a foot behind the out of bounds line;

I pause for a second as the ball rolls away and then I blow my whistle and just look in shock

you know the rest of the story; they found the only way they could lose that game in regulation; mind boggeling

anyone have a suggestion of how I could have avoided that situation, realistically, I suppose we might as well make the assumption that this will only happen in these types of games, where kids are not very talented and have low basketball i.q.; anything you guys do when bringing ball in that would prevent something that foolish?

on a related note, lately I have been seeing a lot of 50/50 balls coming on throwin, meaning balls that are being deflected almost right out of the hand of the guy throwing the ball in bounds and right on the end of the out of bounds line (such that it would be legal if it is over the line); really close call and too close to call a T; anyone have suggestions how I can prevent those from happening?