My correctable error

[Rich]

I hadn't had a correctable error in years. Till last night.

The ball was loose and one player from each team was going after the ball. A player from the visiting team dove and retrieved the ball in both hands, but was a bit out of control and in mid-dive her legs swept through the legs of the player on the other team (who was standing on both feet) who ended up falling on top of the other player. To me, it was a no brainer foul on the girl who retrieved the ball. The other player doesn't fall on top of her without having her legs taken out.

Weird play and we go to the other end to shoot a 1-and-1. As the shooter prepares to shoot the ball, the coach is talking to me, "But she had the ball.....but she had the ball...."

I know the coach was probably trying to say that the player with the ball couldn't foul, but another light went on in my head at that moment. I blew my whistle as the shooter was just releasing the first free throw and (with the benefit of a hushed gym that was probably confused by the whistle) explained we had a correctable error (I guess I corrected it just before the error, but whatever) and that we had a player control foul and there would be no free throws. I went to the table and explained the situation (I was hoping they'd announce it over the PA system, but they didn't) and then went to the home coach and explained why there were no free throws and he quickly understood.

We went to the other end and inbounded the ball.

I'd rather suffer through 30 seconds of embarrassment and get the result right than let it go and realize later that I got it wrong.