Roman Slabach
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.
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.