Great Falls Basketball
Summary of House League Playing Rules

Grades 2nd-12th

Here is a summary of key House League playing rules. We encourage review of the complete set of rules located on the GF Hoops website to be fully informed of game operations and rule modifications. 

Key Rules Common To All Age Groups:

• Players may not wear rings, watches, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, exercise monitoring gear, hard casts and finger splints (even if wrapped). Medical alert bracelets are permitted.
• A game consists of four (4) quarters of eight (8) minutes each, with a three (3) minute halftime. 
• Games are played with a running clock except on free-throws, timeouts, game official administration and the final minute of the 4th quarter.
• Each player MUST play in two (2) complete quarters, one (1) in each half; no player may play more than three (3) full quarters unless all other players will have played at least three (3) full quarters which can include the 4th quarter.
• Substitutions are only permitted due to injury, illness or disqualification and half-way through the 4th quarter.
• A lane violation is three (3) seconds. The count suspends when the ball is shot and resets when a player on either team obtains possession. 
• Players may enter the lane when the free-throw shooter releases the ball.
• Each team is allowed two (2), one (1) minute time-outs per half that do not carry over.
• Overtime periods are three (3) minutes using a stop clock and each team is allowed one (1), one (1) minute timeout per period and do not carry over. 
• A team forfeits if unable to field four (4) players within five (5) minutes of a scheduled game start.
• If a team leads by 20 or more points, the clock will continuously run, excluding timeouts, injuries and game official administration, until the score differential falls below 15 points.
• If a game runs late, the subsequent game will have an abbreviated warm-up period of five (5) minutes.

Playing Time Chart: