Women's Basketball | 8/15/2020 12:39:00 PM

August 15, 2020-For the 23rd straight year, the Emporia State Lady Hornet basketball team ranked in the top six in attendance among the over 300 NCAA Division II basketball playing schools.
 
The Lady Hornets drew an average of 1,442 fans to their 15 home games on Slaymaker Court in White Auditorium during the 2019-20 season to rank sixth nationally. Emporia State outdrew 243 NCAA Division I schools, including six from the "Power 5" conferences - three from the ACC, two from the Pac 12, and one from the SEC.  
 
Emporia State played in front of an NCAA Division II season high 6,455 in the MIAA Tournament Championship game in historic Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.  They had a season high 1,987 for their game against Fort Hays State on December 7 and the Lady Hornets have played in front of at least 1,000 fans in White Auditorium in every 305 of their last 306 games.  
 
The Lady Hornets have won 304 of the last 334 (.910) games in White Auditorium. Emporia State is 13-7 against top ten teams in White Auditorium since 1995. Emporia State has only lost 14 games to unranked NCAA teams in White Auditorium since 1997. The Lady Hornets are are 451-98 (.821) overall since 1979 at home and hold the MIAA record for consecutive home wins with 62 set from 1997-2001. The Lady Hornets have not lost a non-conference home game since a 58-51 defeat by Harris-Stowe on Dec, 8, 2007.  

Emporia State was among seven MIAA teams in the top 12 nationally. As a conference the MIAA drew 208,436 fans to 201 games to lead all Division II conferences in average attendance at 1,037 fans per game. That mark would rank tenth among 32 NCAA Division I women's conferences in total attendance and 16th in average attendance. It is the 12th straight year the MIAA has led the nation in average attendance. Nine of the top 12 teams in the nation were from the Central Region with 12 teams from the region ranked in the top 25. The Central Region was the only NCAA Division II Region with three conferences ranked in the top ten nationally.

Emporia State is the only program in NCAA Division II history to lead the nation in attendance (2005), win a national championship (2010), and be honored with the top GPA in the nation (2017) in the WBCA Academic Top 25 list.

Emporia State finished the season 24-7, 15-4 in the MIAA, and was the conference runner-up in both the regular season and tournament. They were the fourth seed in the Central Regional Tournament before it was canceled due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. They are set to return six of their top nine scorers, five of whom started at least one game this season, led by All-MIAA and All-Region performer Tre'Zure Jobe.

2019-20 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Attendance Top 25

School	Games	Total	Average
1. Northern St.	15	37,050	2,470
2. Fort Hays St.	14	32,150	2,296
3. Winston-Salem	13	24,286	1,868
4. Drury	14	24,750	1,768
5. Augustana (SD)	15	24,112	1,607
6. Emporia St.	15	21,633	1,442
7. Washburn	12	16,876	1,406
8. Central Mo.	13	18,065	1,390
9. Mo. Southern St.	12	15,402	1,284
10. Virginia Union	13	16,549	1,273
11. Missouri Western	18	21,762	1,209
12. Pittsburg St.	15	17,950	1,197
13. Indiana (PA)	18	20,730	1,152
14. St. Cloud St.	13	14,799	1,138
15. Ashland	17	18,504	1,088
16. Colorado St.-Pueblo	13	13,987	1,076
17. Lincoln Memorial	13	13,960	1,074
18. Dixie St.	15	15,604	1,040
19. Tarleton St.	16	16,444	1,028
20. Alas. Anchorage	14	14,387	1,028
21. Colorado Mesa	16	15,832	990
22. Francis Marion	12	10,759	897
23. MSU Moorhead	13	11,627	894
24. West Tex. A&M	15	13,279	885
25. Southeastern Okla.	13	11,470	882

 MIAA in Bold
Central Region in Italics
 
2019-20 NCAA Division II Conference Attendance Leaders

Conference	Schools	Games	Total	Average
1. MIAA	14	201	208,436	1,037
2. NSIC	16	224	168,064	750
3. CIAA	12	162	115,163	711
4. Peach Belt	12	160	86,156	538
5. GLIAC	12	167	85,695	513
6. Lone Star	17	231	115,181	499
7. South Atlantic	12	161	69,925	434
8. GAC	12	165	71,148	431
9. GLVC	16	223	94,664	425
10. RMAC	16	218	92,107	423

NOTE: Numbers and rankings released earlier by the MIAA and some member schools did not include all home games for all teams.