Player leaves court

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by amcginthy

This is off the original topic, but I have a question about this part... I was recently coaching a game where the other team only had 6 players - one had twisted an ankle and was layed up on the bench - a second player was poked in the eye, and had to leave the game - they had no sub for her - coach said he was going to play with 4... when I realized that he didn't have anyone else to play at that time, I called for the official to hold on, and I called one of my players off the floor...

by rule, was I not allowed to do this? official's never said anything to me, just let it happen (of course they knew that I was doing this in an attempt to be fair)...

You did something which was very sporting, but not allowed by the rules. Last year a coach out here instructed two of his players to just stand at the division line, but remain on the court, in a similar situation when the opponent was down to only three.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS REQUIRED
3.1.1 SITUATION: After six players have been disqualified, Team A has only four who are eligible to continue in the game as players. In a gesture of fair play, the coach of Team B indicates a desire to withdraw a player so that each team will have four players on the court. RULING: This is not permissible. Team B must have five players participating as long as it has that number available. If no substitute is available, a team must continue with fewer than five players. When only one player remains to participate, that team shall forfeit the game unless the referee believes this team still has an opportunity to win the game.