Length of Game: Four 6-Minute Quarters (per Archdiocese Rule); 5-Minute Half; 3-Minute Overtime(s) as needed until game is decided; Clock stops on all whistles. Winning coach is responsible for e-mailing result to Commissioner.

Ball/Clock/Book: Women's size 28.5" ball. Home team supplies game ball. Home team is official book. An adult should run the clock.

Possession/3's: Jump ball at start of game and each overtime. Alternate possession thereafter regardless of reason for the jump. By a 7-6 coach vote at 2000-01 coaches meeting, we did not count 3-pointers in the "A" Division. We will revisit that decision at this year's coaches meeting. No 3-pointers in "B" Division.

Foul Shots: Shoot 1-and-1 on 7th Foul, 2 shots on 10th foul in each half. "A" - 15 ft. Normal Foul Line; "B" -- 12 ft. Foul Line. (B's should start back at 13 or 14 feet if they need room to jump forward. They can't start at the 12 ft. line and jump forward to 10 or 11 ft.)

Full Court Press:
"B" Division -- No Press.
"A" Division -- Allowed last 2 minutes of game & last 1 minute each OT, except a team ahead by 10 or more points may not press until the lead drops to 9 points or less. Team behind may press at end of game/OT regardless of score.

Free Half Court: Except for the above, when a team obtains possession of the ball in its defensive zone, it may bring the ball across half-court unimpeded by the opponent, which must drop back to half court ("A" Division) or half-court plus 3 feet ("B" Division -- use some marking on the court). Exception: if the team obtaining possession is attempting a fast break or is "pushing" the ball upcourt, the opponent may defend in the back court in order to stop the fast break. However, a fast-breaking team being defended will NOT lose possession before passing half-court in the event of a steal or forced error. (Where there is no defensive pressure, an unforced error in the back-court is still a turn-over.) Rule of thumb - don't fast break if you don't want defensive pressure!

Timeouts: Four (4) full time-outs per game, used any time. One (1) additional time-out each overtime. Time-outs carry over. Per PIAA rule - coaches may call time out.

Jewelry: Absolutely NO watches, earrings, barrettes, plastic or metal hair bands of any kind. TAPING OVER EARRINGS IS NOT PERMITTED (safety issue -- no exceptions).

Referee Fees: $25 per ref (each team pays one of the 2 refs). If only 1 ref handles the game, the fee is $38 (each team pays the ref $19). In case of forfeit (15 minutes after scheduled time), coach at game should NOT pay officials. They will get paid through ref assignor, to whom the forfeiting team must send the entire $50 ref fee within 1 week.

Weather Postponements: Home team must contact opposing coach, REF ASSIGNOR and commissioner at least two (2) hours before game start. If the Refs are not given enough advance notice and show up for the game, the HOME TEAM must pay full $50 forfeit fee. Anticipate weather problems and make sure you contact REF ASSIGNOR. Coaches should reschedule game and notify Commissioner of new date. Postponed "B" games do not have to be replayed.

Technicals: Two technicals in any one game results in automatic expulsion from that game. All "unsportsmanship" or "conduct" technicals are to be reported to the Commissioner. One game mandatory suspension each time a player or coach accumulates 2 misconduct technicals during season/playoffs.

Playing Time:
"A" Division - There is NO League rule requiring any amount of playing time in any game because we are a competitive league. The "life-lesson" that players and their parents must understand is that in some close games, some players may see little or no playing time - the team comes first; those players, on the other hand, may see a lot of playing time in games that aren't very close. On balance, over the course of the season, each A player will hopefully receive a meaningful amount of playing time. Note: Even if you have your own "playing time" rule during the regular season, playoffs are special and you should advise your parents now that there is no playing time guarantee for anyone in the playoffs. We have found that advance notice in writing about playing time policy prevents problems during the season.
"B" Division - Because the B Division is instructional/recreational, we recommended last year that coaches informally try to let every B player play at least 1/4 to 1/3 of each game depending on the size of the team. The new Archdiocese rule for B Leagues mandates at least 4 minutes of playing time per player per game.

Post-Game Prayer: Per Archdiocese Rule, after the game, rather than handshakes (where the girls all too often mistake sweat for spit), the two teams should gather at center court for a few seconds, each coach should positive and gracious about how the other team played, and end with both teams saying a prayer (Commissioner's personal favorite is the Hail Mary).

Playoffs:
"A" Division -- All teams make the playoffs. Same style format as last year. Example -- Last year we had 14 teams: 1st Round: top 2 seeds received byes; 3 played 14; 4 played 13, 5 played 12, 6 played 11, 7 played 10; and 8 played 9. We then RE-SEEDed to create a hard Quarterfinal bracket with No. 1 seed playing lowest remaining seed, etc. Both finalists receive team and individual trophies. Tiebreaker for seeding "A" Division playoffs: a) head to head competition; b) games vs league teams in descending order; c) score differential between tied teams; d) coin flip.
"B" Division -- Per new Archdiocese policy, the "B" Division did not have a playoff last year; instead, all 16 teams participated in an end-of-season festival with all players receiving participation medals. Similar style format this year.

All-Star Game:
"A" Division -- Each team will send 1 or 2 representatives designated by team coach. Formation of teams tbd. All-Star head coaches will be coaches of Playoff Finalists.
"B" Division -- Each team will send 1 representative designated by team coach. Formation of teams and coaches tbd.
Both Divisions -- All-Star game will include a half-time 2-ball competition.

Competition Rule: Adopted in 1999 at the 5/6th Grade Coaches Meeting, expanded in 2000 by our Region 11 Athletic Directors and reaffirmed by them in 2001: In order to maintain a competitive balance in the "B" Division, where most players are learning the basic fundamentals of basketball, girls who are talented enough to play basketball at the competitive "A" level MUST play in the "A" Division and are ineligible for the "B" Division regardless of whether they are 5th or 6th graders. Although the Region does not apply an AAU bright-line test, it has been our experience over the last 3 years that every 5th and 6th grader who has ever played on an AAU club team at any level -- A, B or C -- should be playing in the "A" Division. It does not help them develop their basketball skills playing at an intramural/recreational level and it skews the competitive balance of the "B" Division because even one AAU-caliber player is enough to dominate an entire "B" Division game. (The so-called AAU Rule has been a success during its two-year implementation -- we now have a competitively balanced "B" League.) In addition, even non-AAU players and entire teams are subject to being moved up from the "B" to "A" Division if competitively misplaced in the "B" Division; the policy underlying the Competition Rule is not limited to AAU players since some talented players do not participate in AAU -- the policy is that ALL talented players/teams capable of playing in the competitive A Division must be playing in the A Division even if they are in 5th Grade. Our Region 11 Athletic Directors have adopted an A-Competitive, B-Intramural/Recreational structure rather than an A-6th Grade, B-5th Grade structure. Each Athletic Director is charged with ensuring that a coach from his/her parish does not try to keep a talented 5th Grader on a parish B team since it will give that team an unfair advantage against other B teams. To enforce the "Competition Rule" the Commissioner has been authorized by the Region 11 Athletic Directors to exercise his discretion and move mis-placed players and/or teams from the B to the A Division (and vice-versa) during the season if necessary to ensure an appropriate competitive balance in both Leagues. (For example, last year the St. Mary's Villa 5th Grade team was moved from the B Division to the A Division to ensure a competitive balance in the B Division; two years ago the OLHC 5th grade team was moved from the B to A Division several games into the season).