Should An Indiana High School Girls’ Basketball Team Have Stopped Shooting In 107-2 Victory

No doubt you have heard the story by now about the Bloomington South High School girls' basketball team beating Arlington High School 107-2 Tuesday night in Indy. There was been so much outrage over that game, an official with the Indiana state prep sports association says he never wants to see a one-sided outcome like that again. Some have said Bloomington South was out of bounds and should have stopped shooting....really? Bloomington South coach Larry Winters says in no way was he trying to embarrass Arlington or run up the score. Winters even cleared his bench early in the game in an effort to slow things down.

Bloomington South was getting blasted on social media sites for continuing to score once the game was clearly out of hand. Most felt that Bloomington South should have stopped shooting, but that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. What are the kids supposed to do out there if they aren't going to shoot and the game continues? To even suggest they should stop shooting is absurd.

Make no mistake, something should have been done to prevent such a lopsided game from even getting to that point. First year Arlington coach Ebony Jackson said she was disappointed in how Bloomington South handled the game, but again, what other options were there? No coach wants to forfeit a game, but in this case, was Coach Jackson in a position to just take her team off the floor and say enough is enough? I don't know, but you could certainly make a case for her doing that for the sake of her team.

Maybe the officials should have stopped the game long enough to consult with state officials about how to proceed and maybe the state athletic officials should have called the game. This is one of those rare situations where some kind of rule needs to be put in place to prevent this type of thing from happening. Some are calling for a 'mercy' rule.

As outrageous as that score was and as embarrassing it was for both teams, what did Bloomington South really do wrong? Again, if the game is going to continue, you just can't tell the kids to stop shooting and scoring. They had no choice but to continue to play with no malice intended. That game should have been stopped by someone....but by who and how? This game was sad on so many levels, but malicious? Not even close, it was just one of those things.

[indystar.com]