It’s late January and North Carolina State’s women’s basketball team is hosting then-ranked No. 7 Notre Dame inside Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.
The place is packed with a sold-out crowd of more than 5,500 fans. And Mimi Collins – a graduate transfer forward – is about to make Reynolds rock. She sinks a lay-up while being fouled in the third quarter, capping off a 13-4 run to give N.C. State the lead. And the fans loved it, erupting with a deafening roar as the ball fell through the hoop.
N.C. State went on to beat Notre Dame that day, 69-65, and afterwards, Wolfpack head coach Wes Moore thought that the fans made a crucial impact.
“I think the crowd keeps you in it, keeps you focused, and probably has a little bit of an effect on your opponents too,” Moore said. “No doubt. Our fans are an unbelievable advantage for us.”
After Moore coached the Wolfpack to an Elite Eight appearance and its third consecutive ACC championship last year, N.C. State sold a record number of season tickets for women’s basketball this season, more than 3,200. And the Wolfpack have sold out all nine of their ACC home games this season.
But N.C. State isn’t the only women’s college basketball team in North Carolina attracting a bunch of supporters to its games this season. Fan interest in the sport is on the rise across the Triangle.
The big reason why? All three teams – N.C. State, North Carolina and Duke – are all really good this year, and each has a unique style; Duke leans on its defense, UNC likes to play fast, and N.C. State aims to knock down a lot of 3-pointers.
Historic rankings, turnouts
All three teams are ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week, with N.C. State checking in at No. 22, UNC at No. 14, and Duke at No. 9.
For the Blue Devils, it’s their highest ranking since 2017. And it marks just the second time since 2000 that all three teams in the Triangle have been ranked inside the AP’s top 10 at some point in the same season.
In addition to being ranked by AP voters, ESPN projects each team to be a high seed in the NCAA Tournament. One way the women’s tournament is different from the men’s is that the first two rounds aren’t played at neutral sites; the top 16 seeds get to host those games in their home arenas. N.C. State hosted games at Reynolds last season, but this year, all three teams have chances to host. Depending on how the last few weeks of the season shake out, the Triangle could look like the capital of women’s college basketball in mid-March.
Sheila Bradsher is a former member of N.C. State’s pep-band. Now 63, she’s been a Wolfpack women’s basketball season ticket holder for 15 years, often driving to games from Burlington with her 83-year-old mother. And over the years, Bradsher has had a front-row seat to watch the crowds grow around her.
“Women’s sports are on the rise. I think, a few years ago, nobody even really noticed women’s sports that much,” Bradsher said. “But now, especially we’ve been ranked nationally the last few years, so I think that makes a big difference. People are starting to take notice.”
Both N.C. State and UNC are in the top five in the ACC in average attendance per-game this season.
A shift and rise for UNC
Inside Chapel Hill’s Carmichael Arena last month, Carolina fans outnumbered those wearing Wolfpack red. The Tar Heels beat N.C. State, and it was the first sellout at a women’s basketball game for UNC since 2015 as more than 6,300 fans piled into the historic venue. The game was also televised nationally on ESPN.
The significance of fan turnout is not lost on Courtney Banghart, who is now in her fourth season as the head coach of the Tar Heels. Under her direction, UNC made the Sweet 16 last season.
“The fact that we’re on national TV, let’s start with that. The fact that there were almost 7,000 fans here,” Banghart said. “To have this many people care about the game. How lucky are we that we live 30 minutes from three schools that are ranked and that people care about? Win or lose, this is a win. This is a win for college basketball.”
Travis Lund has been a season-ticket holder for Carolina women’s basketball since 2015, when Sylvia Hatchell was still the head coach. Fan turnout waned in the final years of Hatchell’s tenure as the Tar Heels posted three straight losing seasons and four consecutive seasons without a postseason appearance.
Banghart has turned things around since she was hired away from Princeton to replace Hatchell in 2019. The Tar Heels have enjoyed four straight winning campaigns, and this season they won seven straight ACC games for the first time since 2009 – a streak that included victories over Notre Dame, N.C. State and Duke. In the win over Duke, more than 1,500 students bought tickets to the game, marking a program record for student turnout.
UNC has shifted its student seating this year from the bleachers on the opposite sideline from the benches to behind the basket where the visiting team shoots free throws in the second half. It allows the fans to feel like they’re making an impact, and, of course, paves the way for them to effectively distract UNC’s opponent.
Lund says he started noticing fan interest improving last season. He attributes some of that to Banghart, who he says has been engaging with the fans and has put in a strong effort to draw more supporters into Carmichael. Often, Banghart can be found on the court after games, shaking hands, giving hugs and taking selfies with supporters.
“I think there was a fundamental thing that really shifted last year, which was, you didn’t need to know anything about women’s basketball to go, ‘Wow, they made the Sweet 16, that’s pretty cool,’” Lund said. “You know, there’s a barrier where, to be an engaged women’s basketball fan, you have to work, right? Because the coverage isn’t there. But this was something that was very obvious and immediately accessible to people, and it helps that they’re winning and they’re good.”
Lindsay Carroll is 40 and lives in Durham. She’s planning to buy season tickets for the Tar Heels next season.
“The (N.C. State) game (at UNC) was nuts. There were people sitting in the aisles. It was just so exciting,” Carroll said. “It really warmed my heart to see people get excited about women’s sports and about this team specifically, because I think it’s just an incredibly likable team.”
Duke at the top
A few miles north of Chapel Hill, Duke has never had a problem luring fans into Cameron Indoor Stadium for men’s basketball, but this season, the Crazies are showing up for women’s games, too.
In Kara Lawson’s second full season as head coach, the Blue Devils are in first place in the ACC. Duke is 20-3, marking its best record this far through a season since the 2013-14 campaign.
Lawson has the Blue Devils looking like a contender in the ACC with a stifling defense that is sixth-nationally in points-allowed-per-play. She’s been more concerned with winning, rather than getting supporters in seats this season. Duke is averaging about 1,600 fans per-game this season, but that number seems to grow the more the Blue Devils win.
“What I’ve focused on is just getting our program up to a level of competitiveness and being able to put ourselves in position to compete with the elite programs,” Lawson said.
Cameron was about half-full with more than 2,200 fans on a Thursday night last month as Duke was beating then-ranked No. 12 Virginia Tech. As Duke increased its lead over the Hokies in the second half, Blue Devils forward Mia Heide could feel the crowd roaring.
“It’s been really nice to see that growth and support from the local community,” Heide said. “Girls basketball doesn’t always get, I think, the support we would like to have. Our men’s team obviously does. But it’s really cool to see our community and our support growing every day. And it definitely helps in big games like this.”
More big games are on the horizon in the Triangle. The Blue Devils end their regular season by hosting N.C. State and UNC in back-to-back games. And the Tar Heels play in Raleigh later this month.
All three games are expected to be packed, rowdy and loud.
