NCAA changes rules in women’s basketball

ALBANY — This year as some women’s college basketball teams are adjusting to new teammates, coaches and maybe even competition, they’ll all be getting acclimated to the new rule changes handed down by the NCAA.

Beginning this year, women’s basketball will consist of four 10-minute quarters instead of the traditional two 20-minute halves. Teams will now reach the bonus and shoot two free throws on the fifth team foul in each quarter instead of after seven fouls.

One-and-one free-throw situations have also been eliminated. The team foul count will restart each quarter, but if a team is in the bonus in the fourth quarter, they will remain so for the remainder of the game should it go into overtime.

The NCAA panel also approved new rules in regards to advancing the ball following a timeout, the 10-second backcourt violation as well as tactics and techniques allowed for post defenders. The main objective was to enhance the flow of the game.

While it may help in Division I, II and III play, a few junior college coaches believed the old way was just fine.

“I thought the rules were okay. I thought the pace of the game was okay,” Albany Tech women’s head coach Kenneth Williams said.

Darton head coach Lea Henry echoed such sentiments.

“Actually for the junior college game, I did not see an issue at all,” she said. “We don’t have all the media timeouts and stoppage of play. I thought the game went fast. We’re having to get used to the 10-minute quarters. In the first few couple of games we’ve played, there seems to be a lot more stoppage.”

At the D-II level, Albany State women’s head coach Robert Skinner said his team shouldn’t have a problem adjusting to the new rules, particularly the foul situation.

“I don’t see it being a bother to them, being a deterrent to them, I don’t see it being a problem for them,” he said. “I see them being able to make the adjustments and just being able to play through what we need to play through.”

He said one such adjustment is what type of defense they play, particularly down the stretch of a close game.

“It’s not gonna change how we play defense, but it may change if we play zone defense or not,” he said. “We’re primarily a man-to-man defensive team, but now we may have to sprinkle a few zones in there now with the foul changes and everything.”

Williams, whose team is laden with freshman, said defense will be the biggest aspect his young team will have to adjust to as well.

“With the foul situation, you always had to be conscious of not fouling, but you have to be even more so now,” he said. “You can actually play a team in the bonus real early now…so how we play defense has to change a lot…I think what it’s gonna do is actually cause a lot more teams to play more zone.”

Both Albany Tech and Darton are a few games into their season and haven’t seen a significant impact on the rule changes yet. For Henry, whose team has won both of its early season games by 40 points or more, the true test will come as they player stiffer competition as well as region play.