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There seems to be no stopping the meteoric rise of women's basketball in general and NCAA women's college basketball in particular as the 2003 NCAA teams have raced to another banner year in attendance.
The 1,009 NCAA women's teams in three divisions surpassed the 10-million mark for the first time in history as Division I teams led the 19th consecutive year of record growth for women's basketball.
Overall, the NCAA teams in all divisions pushed the total to 10,163,629 spectators, a jump of 630,848 since last year. The major reason for this yearly boost is the 322 Division I teams, which broke the 7-million mark for the first time, totaling 7,351,634 spectators, up 413,821 from 2002.
The 1,619 average per game for Division I schools includes both the national championship tournament as well as other neutral-site games. Divisions II and III, not to be outdone, also added to the record cumulative totals as well.
Division II totaled 1,645,701 fans, up nearly 100,000 from last year while Division III was ahead nearly 75,000 with a total of 1,000,471 (also the first time in history over the 1-million mark).
The 2003 Division I championship tournament also posted records in both total attendance (334,587) and average per session (7,966). For 2002-03, the 1,009 NCAA teams in all divisions averaged 774 spectators per game while the 322 Division I institutions totaled a record 6,895,533 in home attendance and set a per-game record of 1,572.
In the 2002-03 season, a record 133 Division I teams averaged more than 1,000 spectators per game and another 88 teams topped the 500 per-game mark, a true indication that the growth in women's collegiate basketball continues on most campuses.
NCAA women's attendance was compiled for the first time in 1982 and overall attendance in the three divisions has increased every year since 1984. Net home attendance also includes any doubleheader games with the men's teams as long as attendance is counted by halftime of the women's game.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Big 12 Conference has captured the top spot in conference attendance by totaling 970,764 fans among its 12 member schools. The 5,030 per-game spectators by the Big 12 also led the nation and is only the third time in history a league has passed the 5,000 mark (the Big 12 also did it with 5,030 in 2001 and a record 5,331 last year).
The Big Ten Conference was second in total attendance with a league-record 716,019 fans and the Southeastern Conference was third with a league-record 670,023 total.
For Division I league totals, conference tournament neutral-site attendance is added to conference home attendance.
Fourteen Division I conferences posted records in total attendance in 2003 and 11 leagues set per-game records. Of the 31 Division I conferences, eight averaged more than 2,000 spectators per game and another six were above the 1,000 mark.
Division I national champion Connecticut broke Tennessee's six-year stranglehold on attendance by winning its second title, the first since 1995-96. The Huskies also beat Tennessee, 73-68, in the national championship game for its fourth Division I "on-the-court" title.
Tennessee had reeled off six straight attendance titles since 1997 when Connecticut averaged 12,859 fans per game to the Lady Volunteers' 12,585 this season. Texas Tech finished third at 12,259 followed by New Mexico at 11,896 and Iowa State's 9,632. New Mexico actually had the most overall spectators with 226,024 followed by Tennessee (201,353) and Connecticut (192,888).
After two years giving up the title, North Dakota State stormed back in 2002-03 to claim the Division II national attendance crown by averaging 2,805 per game. It was the tenth overall title for the Bison, which had finished behind North Dakota for the last two seasons.
South Dakota State was second averaging 2,693, while North Dakota finished third at 2,566. Angelo State was fourth with a 2,100 average followed by Washburn at 1,987.
In Division III, Wisconsin-Eau Claire reclaimed its top spot over Hardin-Simmons by posting its fourth overall title averaging 1,294 per game. Hardin-Simmons, last year's leader, was second at 1,153. The rest of the top five are third-place Stillman (890), fourth-place Wisconsin-Stout (881) and Christopher Newport in fifth place (783).
In Division II conferences, the North Central Conference easily took its 13th national attendance crown averaging 1,750 per game. The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association was second for the second straight year at 1,240. The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was third (633) followed by the Lone Star Conference (606) in fourth. The Great Northwest Athletic Conference and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference tied for fifth at 556.
In Division III, the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference captured its first attendance title by averaging 540 per game. The Ohio Athletic Conference was second at 368 followed by the American Southwest Conference (356), Presidents' Athletic Conference (324) and the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (322).
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