April 19, 2024

NCAA women’s tourney attendance at highest level since 2008

South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley, center, watches Tyasha Harris (52) dribble the ball against Virginia guard Dominique Toussaint (4) during the first half of a Sunday second-round game of the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Columbia, S.C. South Carolina defeated Virginia 66-56. (AP Photo)

NEW YORK (AP) — Dawn Staley and her South Carolina Gamecocks did more than just prepare for their opening-round games in the women’s NCAA Tournament. They did everything they could to make sure people attended.

The team spent an hour Thursday night calling season ticket holders who hadn’t bought tickets yet for the first and second round in Columbia. The goal was for attendance to surpass 10,000.

The move paid off as the Gamecocks had 11,085 people attend their opening-round win over North Carolina A&T and then 10,307 come to the second-round victory over Virginia. Those numbers helped bolster overall attendance at the first two rounds to its highest level in a decade, with an average of 5,067 fans taking in the first 48 games.

“The way the community responded to my challenge was quite incredible,” Staley said. “I don’t know if that many people would’ve come to the game just on us relying on the marketing department. They did a great job with us on executing the challenge. The ticket office and everybody just worked overtime to accommodate so many ticket-buying customers.”

Staley also called on friends like Charlotte Hornets center Dwight Howard to donate tickets for local kids to use to attend the games.

“They come to a lot of our games, they support us, and I wanted to support them,” Howard told The Associated Press while the Hornets were in New York to play the Knicks. “Hopefully, they can do a really good job this year in the tournament. They had a really close one the other night. I will be watching their games and hope they get some good wins.”

Gamecocks star A’ja Wilson, who grew up in South Carolina, recalled how shocked fans were when she called them.

SEC rival Mississippi State was just behind the Gamecocks in attendance, with nearly 10,000 fans checking out the first two rounds.

NCAA basketball officials are hoping for more strong numbers at the regionals this weekend in Albany, New York; Kansas City, Missouri; Spokane, Washington; and Lexington, Kentucky.