That communication when there is a cutter down the base line - or rather lack of communication cost us a game in a recent tournament. We were up by 2 with about 12 seconds left playing our 1-1-3. The other team sent a cutter from one side to the other along the base line to the corner, but we didn't communicate. Our "3" had come out to defend the wing and no one communicated to our 5, so the cutter came through, she got the pass, and nailed a 15 footer to tie the game. (We lost in double overtime on a banked in trey.)

What was neat, though, was that after the girl made the tying basket, in the huddle before the first overtime, our girls were apologizing to each other for not communicating and saying they had to do a better job of talking. It was almost worth losing the game to see them discussing what went wrong and how to correct it on their own without any input from me. In the overtimes, the opponent did the same thing four or five times, but the girls did communicate, and we shut down the offense - until the desperation 22-foot bank shot from the top of the key.