BTN.com staff, July 7, 2015

ROSEMONT, Ill. - The NCAA released its latest women?s basketball attendance data on Monday, with the Big Ten setting a conference record of 948,935 fans in attendance, including regular-season home games and all seven sessions of the Big Ten Tournament.

Attendance for the 2014-15 NCAA women?s basketball season eclipsed 11 million fans for the eighth straight season. Division I attendance totaled 8,111,856, the fourth-highest total in the 34 years of NCAA women?s basketball. As a conference, the Big Ten ranked second in the nation for total attendance.

Nine Big Ten squads were ranked among the top 25 in home average attendance, with 10 teams in the top 50. Purdue led the way at No. 9 (6,279), while Michigan State (6,119) and Nebraska (5,857) were 10th and 11th, respectively. Iowa (5,301) averaged the 14th-highest home attendance and Maryland (5,236) was 15th. Penn State, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Minnesota were each among the top 25, while Indiana ranked in the top 50.

The Hawkeyes recorded the seventh-largest home attendance increase from the previous season with 906 more fans per game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The 343 Division I teams averaged 1,565 fans per game over 5,184 games or sessions this season, with NCAA neutral site tournament attendance soaring to an average session increase of more than 2,400 fans per game. Iowa and Maryland represented the Big Ten as hosts in the NCAA first and second rounds.