America couldn’t take their eyes off of women’s college basketball this season.

The 2024 Women’s NCAA Championship Game between the Iowa Hawkeyes and South Carolina Gamecocks on April 7 was the most watched women’s basketball title game in history, according to Data released by Nielsen on April 9.

Nearly 19 million viewers tuned in to the matchup, with its peak audience reaching over 24 million viewers during the game’s final minutes.

South Carolina won the game 87-75, giving the team their second national title in the last three years.

“It was a little bit overshadowed with the other storylines that were going on within the game, which is fine. Rising waters lift all boats as they say, and there’s enough room for everybody in women’s basketball to get some shine.”

Diana Koval- Assistant Athletic Director- Communications and Public Relations for South Carolina Women’s Basketball.

Diana Koval, Assistant Athletic Director, focusing on Communications and Public Relations for Women’s Basketball,  said it was a once in a lifetime experience.

“It was incredible,” Koval said. “It was a little bit overshadowed with the other storylines that were going on within the game, which is fine. Rising waters lift all boats as they say, and there’s enough room for everybody in women’s basketball to get some shine.”

The national championship game was also the most watched basketball game at any level since 2019. Koval said it’s been great to see national eyes on Columbia, South Carolina, and the game as a whole.

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“It’s been nice to see media outlets try and give exposure to women’s basketball,” Koval said. “It’s been great at the grassroots level to see journalists make their own websites to try and bring more attention to women’s basketball overall.”

“All of the competition throughout the year has been fantastic. We could just feel this storm brewing and our community rose to the occasion.”

Monica Gustin- Greater Cleveland Sports Commission Executive Director

If women’s basketball this season was a nationwide phenomenon, , Northeast Ohio could very well be the epicenter of the excitement as Cleveland hosted the Final Four at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse.

Monica Gustin, executive director of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, said she was pleased with the fact that three quality games were played in the city.

“It wasn’t a case of, ‘Oh, I hope this team makes it or we hope this team makes it.’ Between the teams that make women’s basketball great, it’s always been great, but with the way it was now, there was no losing,” said Gustin. “All of the competition throughout the year has been fantastic. We could just feel this storm brewing and our community rose to the occasion.”

Not only was this past year’s Final Four hosted in Cleveland, but a Northeast Ohio made it to the big dance, with the Kent State Golden Flashes playing in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2002.

Todd Starkey, Head Coach, Kent State University Women’s Basketball,  said  he has felt the popularity of the sport growing over the last few years, and especially with the trip to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to face the defending national champion LSU Tigers on November 14.

“We experienced it in a firsthand way from going to places like LSU,” Starkey said. “And the way social media has talked about that team, created a different type of buzz than I think our players were used to.”

In Cleveland,  18,300 people attended the title game, in part  due  to so many athletes attracting attention  in the 2023-24 season.

“The best players are staying in college basketball for that full four years, as opposed to the men’s side of things, a lot of their best players are leaving early for the NBA or the G-League.”

Todd Starkey- Kent State Women’s Basketball Head Coach

The most notable was Caitlin Clark of the University of Iowa. The shooting guard broke multiple records this past year, such as the most points and three pointers made in the history of Division I basketball.

There was also the three-headed monster of the LSU Tigers with Angel Reese, shooting guard Flau’Jae Johnson, who was named second-team All SEC this past year, and Hailey Van Lith, at point guard.

Starkey said that he realized that those cast of characters stuck with people, and was a big reason why so many people got invested into the game this year.

“The best players are staying in college basketball for that full four years, as opposed to the men’s side of things.  A lot of their best players are leaving early for the NBA or the G-League,” Starkey said. “It creates a level of continuity and allows fanbases to really hone in on knowing their team.”

Starkey signed a contract extension earlier in April that will go through the 2029-30 season. Moving forward, he says coming up with a plan to continue to grow the popularity of the sport is in the back of his mind. 

“We want to try and carry the momentum forward as it has been created,” Starkey said. “This WNBA Draft class has really helped move the game forward, so who are going to be the next wave of stars to keep it alive? There’s Paige Buckers, Juju Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, who we just played at Notre Dame, so we hope for them to carry the baton and for that to remain the case in terms of women’s college basketball having the popularity it does now.”

Some people could have seen the popularity that women’s college basketball coming, while others saw it as a surprise. Koval said she felt like it was getting to this point of popularity, due to media members really taking an initiative to cover the game.

“There are a ton of people that have become women’s college basketball fans because they have seen highlights and clips on social media and the decision makers over at ESPN decided to make a huge investment in promoting women’s basketball across all parts of their network, from SportsCenter to the talk shows,” said Koval. “So they made the conscious decision to put women’s basketball in that space, and a lot of people who didn’t realize how awesome and dynamic the game is, realize it now.”

Now that the season is over, it remains to be seen what’s next for women’s college basketball. Starkey said he feels like it’s in good hands.

“If we continue to move the bar forward, I think it’s not a matter of ‘Where can we go?’, but it’s more, ‘We reached a really healthy place. Can we continue to maintain that and not lose ourselves?’ Sometimes, I think it’s easy to lose the magic that you have, and so I think if we can strike that balance, that means we put ourselves in a really good space.”