Expert: Bret Temple - 11/4/2011

Question
Player A is fouled while in possession of the ball but in a non shooting situation.  However the team is in the bonus and Player A goes to shoot first free throw attempt. Player A misses the 1st free throw but officials then call time because the player who committed the foul should have been removed from the game as it was her 5th foul.  

Does player A get another attempt at the 1 & 1?  Does Player A's team get the ball out of bounds?  Is there a technical called on the other team that had the ineligible player in the game with 5 fouls?  This was a confusing situation.

Answer
Todd,

This is a great question.

First of all, the proper protocol when a player fouls out is it's up to the score keeper to alert the officials when a player fouls out, and then the officials then alert the coach. The coach then has 30 seconds to replace that player. In this case, the error was discovered during the "Correctable Error Time frame", in which the coach will be asked to substitute the fouled out player immediately before play resumes.

Player A does not get another free throw and because it was the score keeper's responsibility to alert the officials on a fouled out player, no technical foul is called.  You did not specify whether team A or Team B rebounded the missed free throw, so possession would be awarded to the team at the "Point of Interruption" or whomever rebounded the ball when the official called the play dead. I hope that cleared up your question, and thank you again.