Aug. 1, 2006

WACO, Texas - The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) recently announced the national attendance figures for the 2005-06 Division I women's basketball season. Baylor finished the year ranked sixth in the country in home attendance with a school-record average of 7,717 fans per game.

Baylor topped the 100,000 fan mark for the first time in school history, one of only 11 schools nationally to reach that milestone. The No. 6 ranking is the highest finish for the Lady Bears, besting their 12th place final standing of 2004-05 at 6,835 a game. In addition, Baylor has ranked in the top 25 in attendance every season since Kim Mulkey became the program's head coach.

Baylor was the second-highest ranked team in the Big 12 behind Texas Tech's 11,935 a contest. Other Big 12 schools who beside Baylor and Texas Tech ranked in the top 10 were Iowa State at seventh (7,667) and Oklahoma at eighth (7,630).

Tennessee led the national attendance with 15,356 per game while Connecticut was third at 11,521. Finishing fourth was New Mexico at 10,354 and finishing ahead of Baylor at No. 5 was Minnesota at 8,329.

For the seventh consecutive season, the Big 12 Conference led the nation in overall attendance with an average of 4,980. The Big Ten Conference was second (4,697), followed by the Southeastern Conference (4,061), Big East Conference (2,869) and Atlantic Coast Conference (2,845).

Baylor NCAA Home Attendance finishes under Kim Mulkey:
2005-06 - No. 6 - 13 games / 100,316 fans / 7,717 average
2004-05 - No. 12 - 14 games / 95,688 fans / 6,835 average
2003-04 - No. 18 - 14 games / 65,321 fans / 4,666 average
2002-03 - No. 23 - 21 games / 88,530 fans / 4,216 average
2001-02 - No. 14 - 17 games / 93,909 fans / 5,524 average
2000-01 - No. 23 - 14 games / 55,419 fans / 3,959 average