Six-on-six basketball, also known as basquette, is a largely archaic variant of basketball that was historically played primarily by women and girls. It differs from standard five-on-five basketball in several key respects.
Rules and Format
Each team fields six players instead of five, divided into three "forwards" and three "guards." Forwards are confined to the offensive half-court (the frontcourt) and are the only players permitted to shoot the ball. Guards are restricted to the defensive half-court (the backcourt) and focus on rebounding, passing, and inbounding. As a result, forwards play only offense and guards play only defense.
In some forms of the game, unlimited dribbling was not allowed. A player in possession of the ball could dribble up to two times before being required to shoot (if a forward) or pass to a teammate. There was no three-point line; all field goals were worth two points.
History and Decline
Six-on-six basketball was widely played in American high schools and colleges for much of the 20th century. Beginning in 1958, the U.S. Office of Civil Rights began examining the possibility of banning the format. It was gradually phased out over the following decades. The last major sanctioning bodies to abandon six-on-six were the high school state athletic organizations of Texas (1978), Iowa (1993), and Oklahoma (1995). Today, nearly all women's basketball leagues—professional, collegiate, and high school—play by the same five-on-five rules as men's basketball, with only minor differences such as ball size and three-point line distance.
Notable Figures
Notable coaches of the six-on-six era include Bertha Teague of Byng High School in Oklahoma, who retired in 1969 with a 1,136–116 record (.907 winning percentage) and seven state championships. Prominent players include Molly Bolin, who averaged 55 points per game as a senior at Moravia High School in Iowa; Lynne Lorenzen of Ventura High School in Iowa, who set the national high school girls' career scoring record with 6,736 points; and Pat Summitt (then Trish Head), who played six-on-six in high school in Tennessee before becoming the legendary women's basketball coach at the University of Tennessee.
Variations
In New Jersey, until 1975, a distinct variation was played in which two players were offense-only, two were defense-only, and two were "rovers" who could move freely across the full court.
Legacy
Six-on-six basketball has been chronicled in the 2004 book The Only Dance in Iowa: A History of Six-Player Girls' Basketball by Max McElwain, the 2008 Iowa Public Television special More Than a Game: Six-on-Six Basketball in Iowa, and the 2021 film New Providence. The format is currently preserved by the Granny Basketball League, formed in Iowa in 2005, which consists of women aged 50 and older who play by 1920s rules and wear period-style uniforms.
