Bowling Green State University Athletics
BGSU Reaches Attendance Goal in NCAA Pack the House Challenge
January 14, 2008 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2008
Photos of Anderson Arena from the Pack the House Challenge
BOWLING GREEN, Ohio - The Falcon faithful packed into Anderson Arena on Saturday to take in a MAC East Division women's basketball showdown between BGSU and Ohio, and when the final buzzer sounded, the Falcons emerged with a hard-fought 60-45 victory in front of a raucous 3,010, a season-high attendance mark, and the sixth largest home crowd in the program's history. It was also the fourth largest regular season home crowd of all-time, and the largest in over a decade (3,268 saw BGSU defeat rival Toledo 83-69 on March 5, 1994).
Saturday's game had been tabbed "Pack the House Day" as part of the NCAA's "Pack the House Challenge", an ongoing nationwide women's basketball attendance competition taking place throughout the season. Nearly 80% of the nation's Division I women's basketball programs signed up to participate in the competition, including BGSU, Akron, Ball State, Buffalo, Kent State, Miami (OH), Northern Illinois, Ohio, Toledo and Western Michigan out of the Mid-American Conference. The premise for each participating institution - select a game/date at which an attempt is made to break your single-game all-time or 2006-07 season record. Based on the final results nationwide, 32 conference champions and one overall national champion will be determined by the NCAA.
Entering the game, according to the record books, BGSU's all-time single-game women's basketball attendance mark was 4,408, set on March 17, 1993 when the Falcons dropped a 69-67 decision to Florida in an NCAA Tournament game. The regular season single-game mark was 4,013, set on February 19, 1992, an 87-83 OT loss to rival Toledo.
With the addition of the Falcon Club hospitality area in Anderson Arena this season, the building's seating capacity was reduced from 4,700 to 3,700. Given such, BGSU was attempting to break its 2006-07 season single-game high attendance mark of 2,323 set on February 4, 2007 in a thrilling come-from-behind 73-62 victory over rival Toledo as part of the challenge.
BGSU Assistant AD - Marketing Brian Delehoy was ecstatic following the game. "There's no doubt in my mind we have some of the best women's basketball fans in the nation, and they certainly showed that Saturday."
Delehoy went on to add, "Saturday was an opportunity for us to really celebrate our fans as part of a nationwide competition - mission accomplished!"
Through six home dates thus far in the 2007-08 season, BGSU women's basketball attendance is sitting at a healthy average of 1,624. Coming off a 2006-07 season that saw a program record average of 1,607 fans per game (including an average of 1,303 through the first six home dates/games), Falcon fans are well on their way toward once again rewriting the BGSU record books.
##BGSU WOMEN'S BASKETBALL##
