Pacific Women's Hoops The Big West Pack The House Winnner

March 31, 2011

STOCKTON, Calif. - University of the Pacific was one of 33 winners in the NCAA Division I "Pack the House" Challenge as the women's basketball team sold out the Alex G. Spanos Center on Dec. 28, 2010 against No. 1 Connecticut.

The Tigers set their program attendance mark of 6,150, recording the first-ever sell out of the Spanos Center for the women's basketball program. The standing room only crowd saw the Tigers welcome the top team in the nation, the two-time defending champion Connecticut Huskies to Stockton. The sell-out shattered the Pacific women's basketball attendance record, with more than triple the previous high of 1,917 set on Feb. 21, 2009 against Cal Poly on the Tigers' annual Pacific Plays Pink game for breast cancer awareness. The demand for tickets led to Pacific announcing a complete sellout the day before the event with no walk-up tickets sold.

"Pack the House" is a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance. NCAA Division I women's basketball marketing staffs selected a home game and designated that date as a "Pack the House" game with the goal of setting an attendance record. One winner from each of the 32 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions were named. Selections were based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria. The NCAA will award prizes and donate $500 to a non-profit organization of each winning institution's choice.

Pacific will be making a donation to the Walton Special School. More than half of the Division I membership - 178 institutions - participated in the effort that attracted more than 554,000 fans.

The Tigers were one of 10 programs to post sellout crowds in women's college basketball as part of the Pack The House program, joining Army, Baylor, Duke, Gonzaga, Louisville, Marist, Michigan State, Navy and Oregon. Sixty-nine programs surpassed their single-game attendance highs from last year.

"We believe this initiative has served as a catalyst to increase attendance, create excitement and enhance exposure for our women's basketball programs," said NCAA Vice President of Division I Women's Basketball Sue Donohoe. "Institution personnel committed a great deal of time, effort and resources to this program and the results were extremely positive. This program provides great `best practices' and examples of success for institutions that are seeking to `grow' women's basketball and these success stories will continue to strengthen efforts in the future."

"We had an incredible atmosphere in the Spanos Center, and it was a night I think a lot of people are going to remember," head coach Lynne Roberts said. "I was proud of how the community really got behind the event and made it a very special night."