DALLAS — There were a lot of empty seats at the NCAA women’s basketball tournament regionals.

The NCAA saw its lowest attendance for the regionals in 20 years, and there is no change to the format in sight.

An average of 4,719 fans showed up for the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games in the four neutral-site venues. That’s down 27 percent from last year and nearly 50 percent from 2014, when the games were played on campus sites.

In 1997, an average of 4,252 fans came to the regionals.

This year’s numbers were bolstered by the Bridgeport Regional, which sold out both days UConn played there. No other site had a local team playing.

The Stockton Regional had three East Coast teams play in it, along with Oregon State. South Carolina and Florida State met in the final Monday night with only 3,134 fans in attendance.

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The Gamecocks have led the NCAA in home attendance the past few years, drawing an average of 12,277 fans this season. However, few wanted to make the cross-country trip to California.

Oklahoma City had a strong matchup, with Baylor facing Mississippi State – the top two teams in the region. Yet only 3,128 fans attended Sunday night’s game. Lexington was even worse, with 2,527 fans coming to see Notre Dame face Stanford.

“We have a unique situation that needs to be handled,” UConn Coach Geno Auriemma said.

“I’m not saying I know what all the answers are, but there’s certain places in America that there’s a lot of really good women’s basketball fans, and there’s a lot of places that it’s not.

“So to put regionals in those places doesn’t make any sense.”

BASEBALL

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ENDICOTT 10, SOUTHERN MAINE 6: Nick Berno reached on a throwing error that allowed Ian Schmidt to score, and then came home on Michael Casciano’s double as the Gulls (7-5) broke a 2-2 tie with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning against USM (7-5) at Beverly, Massachusetts.

Paul McDonough had a three-run homer and a sacrifice fly for the Huskies.

HUSSON 5, BATES 1: Luke Covey doubled home two runs and scored on Cam Archer’s single as the Eagles (6-5) strung together five straight hits to score three times during the fifth inning and open a 4-0 lead over Bates (4-5) at Bangor.

Dan Trulli hit a pinch home run in the top of the ninth to account for the Bobcats’ run.

WOMEN’S LACROSSE

ENDICOTT 18, UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 11: Jennifer Lacroix netted four goals and Meghan Lennon and Olivia Larson had two each as the Gulls (5-3, 2-0 CCC) opened an 8-0 first-half lead against UNE (4-5, 1-1) at Biddeford.

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Lacroix finished with six goals for Endicott, while Lennon had five.

Korinne Bohunsky registered three goals for the Nor’easters.

MEN’S LACROSSE

KEENE STATE 17, COLBY 10: Tyler Reilly’s five goals and one assist led the Owls (4-0) during their match against Colby (1-6) at Keene, New Hampshire.

Lane Kadish and Kevin Seiler each scored twice for the Mules.

ENDICOTT 10, UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND 8: Will Jennings’ six goals propelled Endicott (2-6, 2-0 CCC) to a victory over the Nor’easters (6-3, 1-1) at Biddeford.

Andrew Curro paced the Nor’easters with four goals.


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