Girls V 3 on 3
 

Living in southeast Texas all my life, it wasn't until I was in the 10th grade that girls finally played full court basketball. I was just discussing this with another official and he said he had never heard of that. It was 1978 and up until that time, Girls played a goofy 3 on 3 half court game. The division line was a boundary for both sides.

You had 3 girls that always played defense and three that played offense.
The 6 girls on one side could never cross the division line. They had to pass it to the girls on the other side. Pretty crazy huh!

Any other areas of the country play this kind of ball?

Lots of places used to play that game in girls ball.

ALL areas of the country did at one time. Different states switched at different times. THe last was Iowa, in 1988 or 1989. Only because girls complained that they weren't getting college scholarships.

The folks (men) who set this up were concerned that fragile, delicate women wouldn't be able to hold up to full court play. (I'd like to see those guys carry and deliver a 10 pound baby, and then worry about us "fragile" gals.)

There are some "old ladies" leagues around the country of ladies who played like this when they were young, and they still want to for exercise. They've got uniforms with the old sailor collars, and bloomer looking pant-type things.

It's called Granny Basketball.

http://seniors.lovetoknow.com/Senior...nny_Basketball

Scroll down to the photo of a game in action. Look at the size of crowd!

Defense Only
 

Thirty years ago, when Title IX kicked in, our school started a girls basketball team. We had a student-faculty game that year. One of our female faculty members never went past the division line. She told me that she only played defense when she played basketball in high school.

I've heard that, under some rules, one player, I believe, called a "rover", was allowed to play both offense and defense, and could cross the division line???? Not sure though?????

Well...at least all those people were smart enough to get out of the cold.:D

Iowa was the last hold out. At least as far back as the 70's, larger schools were playing 5 on 5 basketball. When I graduated in 1992, the small school I went to was still playing "6 on 6" (we didn't refer to it as "3 on 3"). IIRC, they played 6 on 6 one more season, and starting with the 93/94 season all schools in Iowa played regular basketball.

Girls sports in Iowa are still run by a different governing body, and there are some slight rules variations (they move everyone up one space on free throws, and the possession arrow changes once the ball is handed to the thrower, for example), but far fewer variations than there used to be. Only girls coaches are allowed the coaching box; but I hear from Junker there's talk of eliminating that. There's been a move of late to merge the organizations' rule sets.

6 on 6 had some weird rules for those who are used to the "regular" variety of hoops. A player could only dribble two times (as in two bounces), more than that and it was an illegal dribble. A defender could not slap the ball when it was being held by the opponent; unless the offensive player was in her free throw lane. The downward motion of the start of the dribble (as opposed to the actual release of the ball) needed to be started prior to the pivot foot leaving the floor.

With only three offensive players for each team, scoring averages for those who did play were significantly higher.

And yes, one of the key reasons for the final decision was scholarships that were being lost out on.

I grew up in Iowa and watched 6 on 6. I remember that after a made basket the Lead would grab the ball and he would make a long bounce pass to the trail. The trail would then bounce the ball to a girl who was waiting in her teams half of the center circle from where they would start the play at the other end of the court. The Trail would then run down and be the new Lead and the old Lead would run up to become the new trial.

Iowa had a girl named Denise Long in the late sixties who actually was drafted by the San Francisco Warriors. She was incredible. If I remember right back then only the smaller schools played girls basketball. If I'm correct it was pretty much non-existent
at anything but what would be class A type small schools until the mid 70's and early 80's. And some of them wore some sort of pleated dress-type things for uniforms. I know my school didn't get it until the mid 70's and they were only one class below the large-school class.Also I remember the girls state tournaments being bigger draws than the boys tournaments. I would imagine entire towns would show up to watch.

I have a friend here who grew up in Iowa. Her sister played, and she said the last year of 6/6 was like 88 or 89. My friend's sister graduated in 90, so her experience was to do a little of both. At least, that's what Devony (my friend) said.

Some schools made the switch sooner than others.

I know for a fact that my high school played 6 on 6 through my senior season, and at the time there was no word of an impending change. My freshman year of college, they announced the change. The beautiful and gifted one assures me that her high school played 6 player ball her senior year of school, which was 1993.

The Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union has a list of all tournament results since 1920. 1993 was the last year they had 6 player champions.

I was incorrect about the start of 5 player. The first 5 player state tournament for girls was the spring of 1985.

So they had some 5 player teams, and some 6 player teams?? Sheez, that's weird!

Well, whatever works, I guess. Very interesting

Also, I note that a lot of young women will be too young for Granny ball, even if they played 6-player in hs. too bad!

Yup. From 1985 through 1993, the girls state tournament was divided only by 5 player and 6 player. No other class divisions. There was a 6 player state champion and a 5 player state champion. For the most part, the smaller schools hung on longer to the 6 player system.

Starting in 1994, since all were playing 5 at a time, they divided by classes similar to the boys' structure.