Tom at KTXR Springfield writes in with some good attendance news:

There were 6,704 fans at SMS Last night as the Lady Bears defeated Iowa, a team that was screwed out of the NCAA Tournament, by a score of 89-80. The game should be a sellout on Thursday (8,846 capacity) against West Virginia in the Championship game. The Lady Bears have hit 47 of 78 3's (60%) in four games in the WNIT. SMS is also 10 3's from breaking Villanova's national record for 3's in a season at 304. I know it's not the NCAA, but I hope you give this game some attention.

Yes, we've been woefully deficient at covering the NIT this year (as well as the D2 and D3 tournaments). Apologies for that.

In the NIT semis, West Virginia won a wild double OT game over Kentucky. Kentucky wasn't happy about the officiating. "I'm too mad to cry," said senior Sara Potts.

SMS bombed away, hitting 17 of 25 from outside. "We did a lot of good things tonight, but we couldn't contend with that great shooting," Iowa coach Bluder said.

And on Saturday, Washburn beat Seattle Pacific for the D2 crown. "It was just perfect," Lora Westling said. "I could only smile the last 5 minutes of the game, realizing not many people get to end their careers with a win."