WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army was one of 33 winners in the NCAA Division I “Pack the House” Challenge, a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance for women’s basketball across the country. Army was named the Patriot League winner for the second year in a row.

NCAA Division I women’s basketball marketing staffs selected a home game and designated that date as a “Pack the House” game with the goal of setting an attendance record. One winner from each of the 31 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions were named. Selections were based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria. The NCAA will award prizes and donate $500 to the nonprofit organization of each winning institution’s choice.

Almost two-thirds of the Division I membership (181 institutions) participated in the effort that attracted more than 511,000 fans nationwide. Army packed Christl Arena with 5,163 fans – the largest home crowd in women's basketball history – for the 53rd meeting between the Black Knights and service-academy rival Navy on Feb. 20.  Army was one of 10 programs across the country to produce a sell-out crowd, joining Central Michigan, Duke, Houston Baptist, Jacksonville, Long Beach State, Marist, Middle Tennessee State, Niagara, Prairie View A&M and Xavier. Sixty programs surpassed their single-game attendance highs from last year.

"We believe this initiative has served as a catalyst to increase attendance, create excitement and enhance exposure for our women's basketball programs," said NCAA Vice President of Division I Women's Basketball Sue Donohoe. "Institution personnel committed a great deal of time, effort and resources to this program and the results were extremely positive. This program provides great `best practices' and examples of success for institutions that are seeking to `grow' women's basketball and these success stories will continue to strengthen efforts in the future."

Army’s marketing staff, under the watch of Assistant Athletic Director for Marketing, Multimedia and Broadcasting Rich DeMarco, spearheaded the "Pack The House" event on Army’s behalf. The group included Director of Marketing Elle Nichols, Director of Gameday Operations Jeff Helion and Marketing Assistant Scott Robson.

2009-10 NCAA “Pack the House” Challenge Winners

CONFERENCE WINNERS
America East - Hartford
Atlantic Coast - Virginia
Atlantic Sun - Jacksonville
Atlantic 10 - Xavier
Big East - West Virginia
Big Sky - Weber State
Big South - Winthrop
Big Ten - Ohio State
Big 12 - Nebraska
Big West - Long Beach State
Colonial - Delaware
Conference USA - Tulsa
Great West - North Dakota
Horizon - Youngstown State
Ivy - Dartmouth
Metro Atlantic - Marist
Mid-American - Central Michigan
Mid-Eastern - Maryland-Eastern Shore
Missouri Valley - Illinois State
Mountain West - TCU
Northeast - Bryant
Ohio Valley - Eastern Illinois
Pacific-10 - UCLA
Patriot - Army
Southeastern - Kentucky
Southern - Appalachian State
Southland - Sam Houston State
SWAC - Prairie View A&M
Summit - Oral Roberts
Sun Belt - Middle Tennessee State
West Coast - San Francisco
WAC - Louisiana Tech
Independents - Longwood

OVERALL WINNER
Virginia - Atlantic Coast Conference