4 on 4 Great Sportsmanship

[shishstripes]

Just finished working our state tournament in the 1A division and had one of the greatest displays of sportsmanship I have ever seen.

The game was a second day consolation round featuring teams from Port Lions and Huslia here in Alaska. Port Lions only had 5 girls coming into the tournament and their leading scorer hurt her ankle in the opening game and was unable to play. Tournament officials allowed the team to start the game with her on the court and then step off during the first dead ball leaving them with only four players.

The Huslia coach had been notified prior to the game and chose to have one of his players stand on the side in bounds and not participate virtually playing 4 on 4. It was a very close game. Huslia won by two points but Port Lions had an opportunity to win the game with a last second half-court shot that rimmed out.

Huslia deservingly won the sportsmanship award, there wasn't any question in the coach's mind what he did was the right thing to do. AWESOME!

You'll have to scroll down a little but there is a piece about the game in this article. Nashookpuk leads Alak girls into state final: Girls | adn.com

[JugglingReferee]

Looks like registration is required. Awesome story, though!

[grunewar]

Cool!

I've had Rec coaches say, "hey, if they only have four players can we go with four?" The answer of course by rule being - no. Now of course I have another option for them...... Not sure if they'll go for it, but it is interesting. Thanks for sharing.