Oklahoma City Region tops in attendance

OKLAHOMA CITY - While NCAA women's basketball tournament attendance has been a major concern, it's no issue at the Midwest Regional.

Instead, the turnstiles have been a big plus. Sunday night's two-game session drew 10,032 to the Ford Center, the biggest turnout of all four regional sites.

The next closest was Spokane with 7,626. Greensboro drew 5,034 and New Orleans, despite having LSU in the field, drew 4,181 for its first two games.

Tonight's game figures to be a good draw as well since the bulk of Sunday's turnout was comprised of Texas A&M and Tennessee fans, along with a solid local presence.

"I noticed there was a lot of crimson,'' said A&M coach Gary Blair, referring to Oklahoma University's primary color. "A lot of them came over to our pep rally over there at the Sheraton. I invite them back Tuesday night because the pep rally will even be larger. And then we're going to import some more Aggies in."

A year ago at this juncture, UT coach Pat Summitt was bemoaning tournament attendance. Sunday's turnout fostered a sense of appreciation.

"I don't know who promoted that,'' she said. "I'm sure Gary Blair. I've been around him long enough to know he can sell an Eskimo ice. He's quite an interesting guy.

"But the fact that they came out is good, and I'm sure they had something to do with it; and Oklahoma fans just appreciating women's basketball and what the Oklahoma team has meant to this area of the country."

Mirror Points: One of the more interesting matchups to watch tonight will be the showdown between Tennessee point guard Shannon Bobbitt and A&M point guard A'Quonesia Franklin.

A change from the norm for both players is they'll finally be eye-to-eye with the opposition. Bobbitt is 5-foot-2. Franklin is 5-3. They may be the smallest players on the court, but they're both fun to watch with a basketball in their hands.

Franklin is an obvious team leader for the Aggies. She averages 7.9 points and has hit 48 3-pointers this season. Bobbitt averages 9.8 points and has hit 71 3-pointers. Each hit a couple of big 3-pointers in the regional semifinal Sunday night.

"You could have given me Bobbitt and you could have given Tennessee A'Quonesia, and Pat would have been just as happy with A'Quonesia, and I probably would have been just as happy with Shannon," A&M's Blair said. "But it's working for both of us."

Lots of History: Blair and Summitt go back years together. As a high school coach, Blair said that he played a pickup game against her and didn't fare well.

"She was another Candace Parker,'' he said. "I thought, golly, who is this?"

Basketball Bloodlines: Texas A&M center La Toya Micheaux is the daughter of Larry Micheaux, who played for the Phi Slamma Jamma teams at the University of Houston in the 1980s. Aggies guard Takia Starks is the cousin of former New York Knicks guard John Starks.

Notebook: Parker has moved into fifth-place on UT's career list for single-season points with 753. . . . With three 3-pointers against Notre Dame, UT's Bobbitt surpassed her trey total of last season and is fourth all-time on UT's list for 3-pointers in a season with 71.

Mark Burgess contributed to this report.