Rules and equipment
Rules for women's basketball are nearly the same as the rules for
men's basketball. The most noticeable difference is that the
circumference of the women's basketball is one inch (2.5 cm) less
than the circumference of the size of the men's basketball. Also,
in American professional basketball, the women’s three-point line
is 1 foot closer to the basket than men’s.
Basketball size
The regulation WNBA ball is a minimum 28.5 inches (72.4 cm) in
circumference, which is 1.00 inch (2.54 cm) smaller than the NBA
ball. This is a standard size 6 ball. As of 2008, this size is
used for all senior-level women's competitions worldwide.
Court dimensions
The standard court size in U.S. college and WNBA play is 94 feet
long by 50 feet wide. The FIBA standard court is slightly smaller
at 28 metres long by 15 metres wide (91 ft 10.4 in by 49 ft
2.6 in). For most of its distance, the three-point line is 6.75 m
(22 ft 2 in) from the middle of the basket under both FIBA and
WNBA rules. Near the sidelines, the three-point line runs parallel
to the.sideline, at a distance of exactly 3 feet in the WNBA and
0.9 m in FIBA play. Under NCAA rules, the three-point distance is
20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) for most of the width of the court, with a
minimum distance of 4 ft 3 in (1.30 m) from the sidelines. The
WNBA, FIBA, and NCAA all use a block/charge arc near each basket,
with the WNBA and NCAA distance at 4 ft (1.2 m) from the center of
the basket and FIBA using a marginally wider radius of exactly
1.25 m (4 ft 1 in).
Shot clock
The WNBA shot clock was changed from 30 to 24 seconds, which has
been in FIBA play since 2000, and has been used by the NBA since
the shot clock was first introduced. Both men's and women’s NCAA
college basketball use a 30-second shot clock; men used a
35-second shot clock until the 2015–16 season, when they switched
to 30 seconds as well.
Game clock
Most high school games are played with four 8-minute quarters,
while NCAA, WNBA, and FIBA games are played in four 10 minute
quarters. In 2015-2016 the NCAA