VALLEY CITY, N.D. -- A shot clock is finally headed to Class B basketball.
The North Dakota High School Activities Association Board of Directors voted 7-4 on Monday to institute a shot clock in 2011-12 for boys and girls basketball.
"I personally like it," Central Cass girls coach Barb Kraft said. "I think it will improve the girls game. I think it will definitely increase the speed and pace of the game."
The NDHSAA voted for a 35-second shot clock for boys games and a 30-second clock for girls competition.
The average cost for a shot clock provided by South Dakota-based Daktronics is $2,600, NDHSAA assistant to the executive secretary Dave Carlsrud said. However, Carlsrud said about 90-percent of North Dakota's member schools already have Daktronics scoreboards capable of adding a clock for around $2,000.
ADVERTISEMENT
A stand-alone shot clock could cost about $3,300 per school. Each school district must pay for its own shot clocks.
The Class B district chairs asked the board to implement the change next season.
NDHSAA executive secretary Sherm Sylling on Monday urged the board to wait a year to give schools time to adapt.
"I know there is a lot of expense for the small towns," Kindred boys coach Brad Woehl said. "And the smaller schools need another person to run the shot clock. But I'm in favor of the shot clock."
A 35-second shot clock was first implemented on a one-year experimental basis for Class A boys basketball in 1996.
A 30-second clock was instituted for Class A girls in 2001.
The clock times mirror college basketball regulations.
Class B teams have been allowed to play non-conference games using a shot clock on an experimental basis for the last two years.
ADVERTISEMENT
"I think it will be fun," Kraft said. "I look forward to it."
Said Woehl: "The big thing is that no one team can just sit on the ball when they are ahead by a few points. You are not going to get a team that's going to stall to make the final score 5-2."
Other action taken by the board:
n Defeated by a 10-1 vote a motion that would have moved Class B boys and girls golf from the spring to the fall.
n Tabled a motion to cut Class B wrestling classes from 14 to 12.
n Tabled a request for the dissolution of the Fargo Oak Grove and Moorhead Park Christian football co-op in 2011-12. Park Christian, which has been paired with Oak Grove since 1998, is starting its own football program.
The football committee will meet this morning to discuss how to proceed with dissolving a co-op that includes a school from another state.
n Voted 8-3 in favor of dropping the Class A girls discus qualifying standard from 118 to 115.
