Be the Referee: Backcourt Violation?

January 31, 2019

This week, MHSAA officials coordinator Sam Davis explains an often misunderstood backcourt/frontcourt basketball scenario. 

Be The Referee is a series of short messages designed to help educate people on the rules of different sports, to help them better understand the art of officiating, and to recruit officials.

Below is this week's segment – Backcourt Violation? - Listen

Let’s test your knowledge of high school basketball rules with this you make the call:

During a jump ball, a throw-in or while on defense, a player jumps from the forecourt, secures control of the ball with both feet in the air, and returns to the floor with one or both feet in the backcourt. You make the call.

Is this a backcourt violation or does play continue? In this situation, a player may make a normal landing on the floor without regard to where his or her feet come down. It makes no difference whether the first foot down is in the frontcourt or the backcourt. There is no backcourt – or what some would call an over-and-back – violation, and play continues with a fresh 10-second count applied if necessary to advance the ball into the frontcourt.

Past editions

January 24: Required Hockey Equipment - Listen
January 17: You Make the Call: 10-Second Clock - Listen
January 10: Tripping in Hockey - Listen
January 3: Sliding in Basketball - Listen
December 27: Stalling in Wrestling - Listen
December 20: Basketball: You Make the Call - Listen
December 13: Basketball Uniform Safety - Listen
December 6: Coaching Box Expansion - Listen
November 29: Video Review, Part 2 - Listen
November 22: Video Review, Part 1 - Listen
November 15: You Make the Call - Sleeper Play - Listen
November 8: 7-Person Football Crews - Listen
November 1: Overtime Differences - Listen
October 25: Trickery & Communication - Listen
October 18: Punts & Missed Field Goals - Listen
October 11: What Officials Don't Do - Listen
October 4: Always 1st-and-Goal - Listen
September 27: Unique Kickoff Option - Listen
September 20: Uncatchable Pass - Listen
September 13: Soccer Rules Change - Listen
September 6: You Make the Call: Face Guarding - Listen
August 30: 40-Second Play Clock - Listen
August 23: Football Rules Changes - Listen

Signature 2nd Quarter Surge Sends Kingston into 1st Girls Hoops Final

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

March 21, 2024

EAST LANSING — It was hard for even Kingston head coach Jay Green to come up with an explanation. 

For some reason this year, the second quarter has often been big for his team. 

“It’s just kind of been our quarter,” Green said. 

That proved to be the case again Thursday in the second Division 4 Semifinal at Michigan State University’s Breslin Center. While the other three quarters against Frankfort were pretty much even, Kingston dominated the second quarter en route to a 56-33 win. 

The Cardinals advanced to Saturday’s 10 a.m. championship game against Ishpeming,  a matchup of teams making their first appearances in a Final.  

Trailing 12-11 at the end of the first quarter, Kingston began turning a close game into a lopsided one.

The Cardinals scored 24 of the first 26 points of the second period, forced seven turnovers and made 7 of 9 shots from the field in outscoring Frankfort 24-4 over those eight minutes to take a 35-16 halftime lead.  

 Kingston’s Gracy Walker makes a move to the basket with Savina Anhalt defending.“They just rose to the occasion,” Green said. “We’ve had a lot of good second quarters over the year. We just kept the pressure on defensively. We got a lot of offensive rebounds, and when you are getting extra shots time after time, it’s just kind of a snowball effect. Sometimes that happens in basketball. We got on a nice run.”

Frankfort couldn’t cut the deficit during the third quarter and went into the fourth trailing 48-25. 

“We’ve been thinking about this for a long time,” Green said. “We were excited Tuesday to break that Quarterfinal hurdle and get down here. There’s just that overall desire to do the best you can, do your best and be relentless throughout.”

Sophomore Molly Walker scored 22 points, and senior Delaney St. George added 11 to lead Kingston, which had a 33-18 rebounding advantage. 

“We just had to come out fast, and if we played hard defensively, things would happen offensively,” Walker said. “It started to come together for us.”

Junior Savina Anhalt scored nine points to lead the way for Frankfort, which finished 22-6. 

“(Kingston’s) a great team,” Panthers head coach Tim Reznich said. “They’re really physical, they’re really strong and they wore us down.

“We had a great start. When they gained their composure, they really started pounding the glass and took over there. That’s where it got us. Once we dug that hole, we just didn’t have the energy to come out of it. But they’re a great team, and I wish them the best.” 

Kingston will turn its attention to Ishpeming, which also enters Saturday with a 27-1 record and was ranked No. 1 in Division 4 entering the postseason. 

“It will be a great challenge,” Green said. “They are the type of team with height and this and that. But we’ll be ready, and we’ll give them our best shot.”

Click for the full box score.

PHOTOS (Top) Kingston players celebrate their Division 4 Semifinal win Thursday night at Breslin Center. (Middle) Kingston’s Gracy Walker makes a move to the basket with Savina Anhalt defending. (Photos by Hockey Weekly Action Photos.)