Sunday night saw South Carolina complete its wire-to-wire run for the women’s college basketball crown. It also brought with it the most-watched national title game in nearly two decades.
ESPN released some of its viewership data on the national championship game between South Carolina and UConn, which drew nearly 5 million viewers and peaked at 5.91 million. The ratings represented an 18% increase from the previous year, and represented the highest for a women’s national title game since 2004.
The 2004 championship game saw the Huskies win their third consecutive title, beating Pat Summitt and Tennessee for the second straight season. Diana Taurasi was that year’s Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four, marking the second consecutive year she won the tournament’s top individual prize.
This year’s national semifinals games also had higher ratings than in 2021 and were up nearly 50% compared to 2019, according to Cassandra Negley of Yahoo Sports.
South Carolina began the year as the No. 1 team in the country, and maintained that position all season long. The Gamecocks never trailed on Sunday night against UConn, leaning on their stout defense to limit the Huskies to just 49 points. National player of the year Aliyah Boston 11 points, 16 rebounds and two blocks, while guard Destanni Henderson had a career-high 26 points to lead all scorers.
