Breaking a half court press

I coach a 4th grade girls basketball team. We are in our second year and have taken the approach that we will only teach them man to man defense and the motion offense. Unfortunately (like most 4th grade teams) we are not very strong yet with our dribbling skills. We are finding most teams we play have adopted a zone defense philosophy that starts at half court. Do you have any ideas on how to best break this? It is usually a 2-3 or 3-2 press.

Kudos to you for teaching your kids the right way... those other coaches should get into another line of work. To them its all about winning and dont worry about teaching the kids the right way to play the game. I guess you see that you hit a sore spot with me... ok, now to your question -- :-)

You need to have someone in the middle and probaly do this out of a 2-1-2 set.... bring the ball up the floor and reverse just before you get to half court ( that means the other guard needs to be behing the line of the ball so it is an easy pass... then look to hit the player in the middle,,, she should catch, pivot to the basket and look opposite first.... or she can attack the basket.

Try to put your players in gaps where the defense isn't. Thats what a college coach told me once, " Its not rocket science ( referring to attacking zones ) put em where they aint! "

Here's a resource with some ideas that go in line with Coach Sar's suggestions:
http://www.breakthroughbasketball.com/offense/press-breaker.html

Also, do tons of ballhandling and ball security drills. When they are ready you can do 3on3 full court no dribble. Coach Sar taught me this I think. It works great. Teaches them to get spacing, meet their pass, face the basket, and LOOK before they pass. Seeing the defense is half the battle. And making this 3on3 no dribble drill competitive helps (take away points for turnovers).

Jeff & Coach Sar,

Thanks for the advice on this. We are committed to the plan and will get the 2-1-2 a shot.