Bruins’ Title Team Ranked 6th Nationally in Attendance

NEWBERG, Ore. - Bolstered by a school-record crowd estimated at 2,300 for their one playoff home game, the George Fox University Bruins ranked 6th in the nation at their level with an average attendance of 864 spectators per home game during their run to the 2008-09 NCAA Division III women's basketball national championship.

The Bruins drew a total of 12,965 for 15 home dates, including the record-setting number for their 83-40 win over Chapman University in the second round of the national tournament on March 7.  The previous one-game record was 2,250 just two weeks earlier in a 73-51 win over Pacific Lutheran University at the Homecoming game on Feb. 21.  The total attendance and average attendance were new records for the Bruins.  In going 32-0 overall, the national champions played before 22,165 fans, an average of 693 per game.

Hope College, whom the Bruins defeated 58-46 on March 14 in Crestview Hills, Ky., in the sectional finals to reach the Final Four, led Division III in home attendance with an average of 1,269.  In second was the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1,055), followed by Calvin College (1,053), Bowdoin College (1,012), and Illinois Wesleyan University (925).

The fan turnout at George Fox also helped the Northwest Conference finish with the 6th-highest average attendance nationally as a league.  The NWC's nine schools drew 364 per game, with a total of 38,177 for 105 home games.  The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference was the best with 501 per game, followed by the American Southwest Conference (454), the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (422), the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (422), and the Ohio Athletic Conference (419).  There are 42 conferences in Division III.