Girls basketball brings success to the court but not to the stands

It’s 5:30 p.m. on a brisk Friday night outside the main doors of Westside High School. Through the doors and around the corner there is a varsity girls basketball game about to tip off. It doesn’t seem like it, though. You might be able to tell by the cars in the parking lot, or the open window where concessions are sold. Inside the gym, however, there’s a student section that’s two rows deep. There’s a Westside youth basketball team across from them that take up half the section behind the bench. There’s the visiting team’s fans who yell louder than Westside’s faithful do at times.

The maximum capacity for the gym at Westside is officially set at 1,860 and yet it feels like about one third of that number is there to enjoy a girls varsity basketball game. A team that has managed to earn a 21-3 record during the regular season. As one stands in the doorway to the gymnasium while the band blasts their pregame tunes, it’s hard not to wonder how so much success can draw such paltry crowds.

This is a common occurrence all across America. For example, take the 2015-16 Baylor University women’s basketball team. The Lady Bears managed to escape the regular season with just one loss. This earned them a one seed in the NCAA tournament where they would make a run to the Elite Eight. However, they averaged an attendance of 6,283 in an arena that seats 10,284 people, according to public documents published by the NCAA. The man who’s been behind the microphone for the university since 1995, John Morris, said he’s proud of those numbers. This is good for ninth in the country is terms of top attendance. As one hears those statistics, and the success this program has had, it’s still hard not to wonder why those other 4,000 seats aren’t filled.

Although the high school gym only seats 1,860, and it’s hard to fill all those seats no matter the event, the Westside girls program is not getting the attention they deserve when just a third of the gym is being filled. They have been tremendous on the court in the past few years, yet the gym is still not near being full. This is a call to students, faculty, staff, and the community. Be there with them the rest of the way. This year, next year, and the year after that.