I remember I was in disbelief when my dad first told me that girls played this half-court variant of basketball in his high school days (he is from a small town in south Texas).
It's eye opening how hugely popular girls' HS basketball was in certain pockets of the country even before the AIAW era. Unfortunately, it was in these pockets where the authorities were most recalcitrant in transitioning to 5 on 5. Iowa and Oklahoma would continue it into the 1990s. According to wikipedia:
"Beginning in 1958 the
Office of Civil Rights started looking at banning six-on-six high school girls basketball.
[1] It would take 37 years to phase it out.
April Coleman took the last shot ever for 6 on 6 basketball in the United States for the Pocola Indians in the 2A state title game. The second-ranked Lady Indians avenged their only loss of the season with a 64-58 overtime victory over No. 1 and previously unbeaten Indianola Warriorettes before 6,500 fans of the longtime girls sport at State Fair Arena.
[6]"
en.wikipedia.org