Senda Berenson Brings the Game to Women
March 1893. The first women's college game at Smith College
Less than two years after Naismith's first game, Senda Berenson, a physical education teacher at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, read about the new sport and saw a chance to get her students moving.
She adapted the rules. The court was split into three zones and players had to stay in their own zone. Players could only dribble three times in a row and could not hold the ball for long. Grabbing the ball from an opponent was not allowed.
On 22 March 1893, Smith College hosted the first women's college basketball game, sophomores against first-year students. Men were not allowed to watch, but the gym was packed with cheering students. Berenson's rules were later published and became the standard for women's basketball across the United States for decades.
What changed
Fixed zones meant every player had a clear job: defenders, centers and forwards. Because dribbling was limited, the women's game was built on quick, accurate passing long before that became a coaching cliché.