This is the first year I'm helping coach my daughter's basketball team. 7/8 Grade. We lost today because we couldn't effectively beat the 1-3-1 full/half court press. I can't find it on the website, but can you point me in the right direction on how to beat it?

Thanks,

Jim

Dealing with the 1-3-1 at this age can be tough. I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you have time to work on it, that's great. But I don't spend much time working on this because I don't want to take time away from more important things like fundamental skills that will help this kids when they get older.

As players get older, they will naturally do better against this defense as their strength improves, passing improves, decision making improves, and so on. Generally, if you can get players in open areas with good spacing, you use some pass fakes, and get some ball reversals... you will get wide open shots in corner, open driving lanes on wing and corner, and inside shots near the block, short corner or mid post.

Spacing, pass fakes, and ball reversals is what beats a defense like this and many others. It's not complicated but can be difficult for younger players.

You can also use some of these techniques to handle half court press near half court line:
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/press-breaker.html

If scoring against the zone becomes a major issue and you really need an offense for that, this will work very effectively against 1-3-1 and 2-3 zone. However I don't use this offense at that age... I just teach motion and I'm ok with losing because I want to focus my time on player development... not learning continuity zone offenses.
https://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/pr/kelbick-zone-offense.html