JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The National Championship Women's Basketball game between South Carolina and Iowa drew an average of about 19-million viewers, peaking at 24 million, according to ESPN. It marks the first time the women's championship has garnered a larger TV audience than the men's.
"You're seeing highly skilled basketball players, ultra competitors, phenomenal athletes," said Jessica Spencer-Gardner, head girls basketball coach at Ponte Vedra.
"My dad is watching, my sisters are watching, my husband is sitting down with all of our kids wanting to watch Caitlin Clark," Spencer-Gardner added.
The world is watching women's basketball.
Erika Lambert, head women's basketball coach at UNF, shared her excitement, saying, "I got a bracket enlarged and printed at FedEx, and when I rolled it out to check it, the people all around me noticed what it was and they wanted to point at the matchups and talk about Caitlin Clark and talk about the women's tournament. That had never happened to me before."
Lambert, who knows all too well how women's basketball was previously overlooked, recalled, "I grew up watching basketball in the days when the WNBA was pretty young and people thought it was crazy and would never work and that nobody wanted to watch that."
Lambert experienced it from the hardwood floor.
"I played in a lot of empty arenas in college and we did it for the love of the game, but the popularity for the sport just wasn't there yet," she added.
Spencer-Gardner highlighted the changing landscape, attributing it to star players like Caitlin Clark.
"We're having more fans in the stands than I did growing up," Spencer-Gardner noted.
Lambert echoed this sentiment, expressing optimism for the future: "They won't even know a world where women's athletics is considered second. That's always been the goal and I feel like we're here."
"I can't wait to see what's to come because our potential hasn't been reached yet," Spencer-Gardner added.
Caitlin Clark was the number one pick of the first round by Indiana Fever.