Attendance at Wichita site better than most

Wichita’s women’s NCAA Tournament sub-regional easily outdrew the other three neutral sites in terms of attendance Tuesday.

The announced Intrust Bank Arena crowd of 4,242 beat Auburn, Ala. (2,214), Albuquerque (1,877) and Charlottesville, Va. (1,362). It also topped Salt Lake City (1,567), where 15-seed Utah was eliminated in the first round.

“It was good to see the crowd,” said Sue Donohoe, the NCAA vice president of Division I women’s basketball. “I think Wichita State did a marvelous job. They worked hard from a tournament operations standpoint, but they worked hard to get the community involved and it showed tonight.”

Overall, Wichita’s second-round attendance ranked seventh of 16 sites. The top four involved home games for No. 1 seeds, and the other two were home games for Gonzaga (5,804) and Maryland (4,493).

Wichita’s two-day total of 8,791 fans was easily the best among neutral sites and topped the 2010 neutral-site average of 6,605.

“Obviously, given the teams we were givenæ.æ.æ. I think that’s a great crowd,” tournament director Brad Pittman of WSU said. “I don’t think you could have asked for a better crowd. We’re very pleased with that.

“This is a basketball town, and I think this re-emphasizes that. Men or women, good basketball is good basketball.”

Goodbye for Spartans’ big three — Michigan State seniors Kalisha Keane, Brittney Thomas and Cetera Washington played their final games, and coach Suzy Merchant pointed out how much they were a part of the team’s turnaround season.

“They’ve done something that no other Michigan State teams has done, and that’s win an out right Big Ten Championship,” Merchant said. “They were given some really tough circumstances when we lost our All-American 6-7 center (Madison Williams). They just fought and found a way, and it starts with those three’s leadership, work ethic and character.”

Keane, Thomas and Washington combined for 39 points and 20 rebounds Tuesday.

Tetschlag big on boards — Green Bay’s Kayla Tetschlag had 10 points and 12 rebounds. Her 11 defensive rebounds allowed Green Bay point guard Celeste Hoewisch to push the ball in transition.

“She’s aggressive, and she goes up and she gets it,” Green Bay forward Julie Wojta said. “She’s also our leader. She keeps us poised and more comfortable on the court. There’s just a lot of intangibles that she brings to this team.”

One cheesy band _ The cheese heads and face paint work well for Green Bay’s band. Even without them, it’d be pretty hard to ignore the group.

“I think in addition to being able to play, we all have a lot of basketball fans in this pep band, which makes it a lot of fun to come out to the games,” alto saxophone player Dan Chojnacki said. “We enjoy playing, but we also enjoy watching the game, getting involved and being fans as well.”

There were moments when the band was downright distracting, in a funny sort of way. Michigan State’s Cetera Washington was at the line when band members yelled, “Peel! Banana! Peel! Peel! Banana!”

Meanwhile, a trumpet player dressed in a banana costume was stripping.

TO for fluids — With 7:39 remaining, Green Bay called timeout to give Celeste Hoewisch a breather and some fluids. After Hoewisch turned the ball over and Michigan State scored, Green Bay’s point guard couldn’t make it past halfcourt because of a cramp in her left calf.

During the timeout he downed a couple cups of liquid and was OK to return. She made back-to-back shots late in the game to help Green Bay increase its lead.

Sweet Sixteen for referees — The game officials at Intrust Bank Arena for Tuesday’s game were under just as much scrutiny as the players. Vicki Davis, who evaluates officials for the NCAA, was watching.

“What I’m looking at is how they look on the floor, how they interact with players and coaches and their call selection,” Davis said. “I’ve got instant replay here so if I’m not sure if something was a correct call, I can go to that. Right after the game I will do an evaluation to see if they should go on the next round or not.”

Davis took notes on her computer and spoke into a digital voice recorder when a call stood out to her. Officials evaluators weere at each of the regional site.

Worth noting — With its win Tuesday, Green Bay increased its winning streak to 25 consecutive games. The Phoenix hasn’t lost since a Dec. 12 loss to Marquette.æThe win also made Green Bay the fourth-winningest team in the past six years behind Connecticut, Stanford and Tennessee. Under coach Matt Bollant, Green Bay is 117-17.æ.æ.æ. Keane played in her 135th career game, tying her for the MSU record.

Contributing: Joanna Chadwick of The Eagle.

This story was originally published March 23, 2011 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Attendance at Wichita site better than most."