‘Dream’ crowd of 55,646 in Iowa sets women’s basketball attendance record

Lisa Bluder’s idea turned into history. The Iowa’s women’s basketball coach came up with the plan for her team to play an outdoor game at Kinnick Stadium, with the hope of setting an all-time women’s basketball attendance record.

Iowa did that, and more.

The Hawkeyes’ 94-72 exhibition win over DePaul in the “Crossover at Kinnick” on Sunday drew 55,646 fans, almost doubling the previous record of 29,619 set by Connecticut and Oklahoma in the 2002 NCAA championship game at San Antonio’s Alamodome.

“You know, you can have an idea and it could fall flat if nobody shows up,” Bluder said. “But, man, Hawk fans showed up today. Fifty-five thousand, breaking the record, getting to play outside ... It was a dream. It really was. It was just fabulous.”

“Fifty-five thousand? That’s pretty incredible,” said Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, the reigning national player of the year who put up a triple-double of 34 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. “It’s hard to kind of imagine yourself playing basketball in front of 55,000.”

Bluder’s idea for an outdoor game came to her when 9,000 fans showed up for a campus celebration for the Hawkeyes in April upon their return from the NCAA championship game against LSU.

The game was played under partly cloudy skies, with temperatures in the 50s farenheit and a gusty wind swirling around the north end zone where the court was set up.

“Great weather,” Bluder said. “It was raining all week, and then great weather today? I’m so thankful.”

The wind played havoc with some of the shots. The Hawkeyes were 36 of 73 from the field, but just 6 of 22 in three-pointers and 16 of 30 in free throws.

Clark hit one of her familiar long-range three-pointers early in the second quarter, but she also air-balled a free