March 19, 2012

RUSTON - After five years of the NCAA Division I "Pack the House" Challenge, Louisiana Tech stands alone.

For the fifth straight year, Louisiana Tech was the Western Athletic Conference's winner of the NCAA's "Pack the House" Challenge - a national effort in which conferences and institutions compete to build attendance at their women's basketball games.

"When I found out that we had won for a fifth straight year, I just started smiling," said Tech Assistant A.D. for Marketing/Game Management Leah Beasley. "Louisiana Tech is the only school in the country to win this for five straight years. I'm so proud to be a part of an administration that promotes creativity and growth of a huge event such as this. It's great to have the opportunity to promote such a tradition-rich program as our Lady Techsters."

The initiative was started by the NCAA in 2007 in an effort to help promote women's basketball nationwide. Division I women's basketball marketing staffs select a home game and designate that date as a "Pack the House" game with the goal of setting an attendance record. One winner from each of the 32 conferences and one from a group of independent institutions are chosen each year, with the selections being based on marketing plan creativity and attendance criteria.

Louisiana Tech is the only school in the country to have won the award for its respective conference every year. LA Tech was one of 153 institutions participating in the effort this year, attracting more than 431,000 total fans across the country.

"We greatly appreciate the enthusiasm and support of our basketball fans and supporters who has been so instrumental in our success the past five years with this promotion," said Tech Director of Athletics Bruce Van De Velde. "I want to congratulate Leah Beasley and our staff for organizing this year's event, making it a great success and winning the NCAA Pack the House Challenge for the fifth consecutive year."

This year's theme was "Fairwell Fresno State: The Rematch" as Beasley and her staff centered the promotion around the Feb. 4 rivalry game with Western Athletic Conference foe Fresno State. After last year's success that saw more than 7,000 fans watch the Lady Techsters down the Bulldogs 90-84 in an emotional overtime contest, Beasley felt that it only made sense to play off of that particular match-up again.

It worked. With promotions such as carnival rides, a petting zoo, free food and discounted ticket prices, the game drew more than 7,000 fans once again as Fresno State defeated LA Tech 61-59 in another exciting game before a great college basketball atmosphere.

Winners of the 2011-12 NCAA "Pack the House" Challenge are:

CONFERENCE WINNERS

America East - Vermont

Atlantic Coast - Virginia

Atlantic Sun - Florida Gulf Coast

Atlantic 10 - Massachusetts

Big East - Marquette

Big Sky -Sacramento State

Big South - Winthrop

Big Ten - Iowa

Big 12 - Kansas State

Big West - Long Beach State

Colonial - Delaware

Conference USA - Memphis

Great West - New Jersey Institute

Horizon - Green Bay

Ivy - Pennsylvania

Metro Atlantic - Canisius

Mid-American - Central Michigan

Mid-Eastern - Morgan State

Missouri Valley - Missouri State

Mountain West - Air Force

Northeast - Central Connecticut State

Ohio Valley - Did Not Participate

Pacific-12 - California

Patriot - Bucknell

Southeastern - Kentucky

Southern - Georgia Southern

Southland - Sam Houston State

SWAC - Southern University

Summit - Oral Roberts

Sun Belt - South Alabama

West Coast - Portland

WAC - Louisiana Tech

Independents - Longwood

OVERALL WINNER California- Pacific 12

Printer-friendly format	Email this article