Iowa women’s basketball fans make NCAA Tournament history
Iowa women’s basketball broke some NCAA attendance records on its way to the Sweet 16.
Iowa center Megan Gustafson (10) family cheers her on after the Iowa/Missouri NCAA Tournament second round women’s basketball game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa on Sunday, March 24, 2019. The Hawkeyes defeated the Tigers 68-52.
March 26, 2019
Iowa women’s basketball advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament while breaking attendance records.
The Hawkeyes topped Mercer, 66-61, on March 22 in front of the 13th-largest crowd for a first-round game with 10,720 fans cheering on the Hawkeyes.
The record came despite the game being at 1 p.m. on a Friday and overlapping the men’s NCAA Tournament game.
Iowa’s 68-52 second-round win over Missouri had the sixth-highest attendance for a second-round game with 12,096 fans.
To put that in perspective, the 12,096 fans who showed up was more than the combined two-day attendance numbers at 11 other sites, including Ames and College Park, Maryland.
Just confirmed these records with the NCAA:
Iowa City two-day attendance of 23,096 is a NCAA RECORD for #ncaaW First/Second Round site.
Second round attendance of 12,376 is sixth-highest all time
First round attendance of 10,720 is 13th-highest all time
— Aaron Blau (@AaronBlau) March 26, 2019
Overall, Iowa packed a total two-day attendance of 23,096, which athletics media coordinator Aaron Blau confirmed was a new NCAA women’s record for total attendance at a first/second round site.