Attendance at Women's Basketball Games

Three minutes are left on the clock, and University of North Carolina-Wilmington has a narrow lead over Virginia Commonwealth University at the Alltel Pavilion in the Siegel Center.
As play runs out, the team gets close, but not close enough to beat UNC-Wilmington. The score at the end of the game is 64-58, and with the final buzzer the band plays while both teams shake hands.
For the women's basketball team, 275 people saw them lose at home on Valentine's Day against UNC-Wilmington.
Despite finishing the season with 22 wins, the average attendance for their home games is 521 people, which fills the Alltel Pavilion to about 7% capacity.
The team does notice this fact.
“It makes me angry,” said D'Andra Moss, sophomore and small forward on the women's basketball team. “People just don't come.”
The team says that it gives them a boost when fans show up and cheer them on.
“It's like having another team with more people,” said Kita Waller, sophomore and guard for the team.
The average attendance for their games is also half of what the average was for when they played on the road. When they traveled to other other schools, the average attendance was 1,039 people.
Beth Cunningham, the head coach of the girl's basketball team and a former player at Notre Dame, sees the issue differently.
“[Attendance for the games] depends on who you are playing, when you are playing, what else is going on, and how much marketing goes into the games,” she said. “It's part of the process.”
While VCU's attendance is low, some schools that always have consistently strong teams year after year have higher attendance, such as the University of Tennessee, University of Connecticut and Duke University.
Yet, the sport still has to fight back stereotypes that prevent its widespread acceptance.
Freshman Kristine Armour, who since January attends the women's games as often as she can, explains what happened when her dad stumbled upon a VCU Women's basketball game being broadcast locally.
“I get a text from my dad, saying 'it's a slow game compared to the boys, huh?'” she said. “I just don't think many people take women's sports seriously.”