to an Iowa HS girls game. It was brutal.

Iowa girls do have some talent in this area.

Edit to add:
The 6-on-6 two half court game you saw back then has been gone for about 35 years I think.
Iowa and Oklahoma were the last two states to play that way. As far as I know it is no longer played anywhere.

and that was all I remembered. Moved to Michigan and most school didn’t have girl teams until I left HS in the 60s.

Was watching the Illinois tourney last weekend and it was their 40th tourney.
I believe next year will be Iowa' 100th tourney.

So while the game was ugly, Iowa was way ahead of the country in girls athletics.
In many small towns it was the only entertainment they had all winter.

One thing that was bad was adding "Lady" or "ette" to the the school nickname to designate they were the girls' team.
Over in Illinois last weekend there was the "Lady Shoes" and the "Lady Bison." Iowa used to have a team nicknamed the "Bull-ettes." Chew on that one.

routinely described 6 x 6 girls basketball as being as exciting as watching paint dry.

Tournament time in Des Moines, especially the girls tournament, used to be torture for those of us who worked downtown. I work in 25 story building, and it was not uncommon to get into the high rise elevator and find all the buttons pushed. About 25 years ago I left my office to go to the rest room. When I came back, there were two teen aged girls standing in my office. I'm an attorney. My office is a room about 15 x 15; one of several on this floor. The reception area is on the floor below. At the time, there was no retail store in the building, so no reason for them to have even been in the building, let alone my specific office..

Thankfully, those days seem to be behind us.