Women's 10-second count

[Adam]

Originally Posted by truerookie

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Yep, I have a buddy who officiated those games back in the 80's Maybe some on this board have officiated some of those games too.

I graduated in the early 90's from a small school in Iowa, and it was a year or so later that the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union required all schools to play 5 on 5. Prior to that, it was mainly just the large schools that played full court 5 on 5 basketball, the smaller schools played 6 on 6. I believe Iowa was the last hold-out for this. Tradition played a large role in its longevity; but it was costing the girls college opportunities because of the nature of the game. Offensive players didn't play defense, and defensive players never shot the ball.

It was basically two games of half-court 3 on 3. Three players from each team were on each side of the court and could not cross the division line. Three played defense (called forwards) and three played offense (called guards). After a made basket, the lead official would grab the ball and throw it to the old trail who was heading down the court as new lead. He (or she) would then throw the ball to the inbounder standing in her half of the jump circle as he continued on to new lead.
Some other rules differences I remember:
1. Offense could only bounce the ball (dribble) twice. Third bounce was an illegal dribble.
2. The start of the dribble was the downward motion of the dribbling hand, not the release of the ball. Therefore, the ball did not need to be released prior to the pivot foot leaving the floor; the downward motion only needed to have started.
3. It was illegal for the defense to touch the ball while being held by the offensive player unless the offensive player was standing in the lane. Penalty was an "illegal use of the hands" foul.
4. I believe handing the ball off to a teammate was a violation as well. The ball needed to be released on a pass.

It wasn't unusual to have one girl on a team average 30-40 points a game, scoring 50-60 occasionally.