Initial television ratings for Sunday's NCAA women's national championship game are in.
The all Pac-12 title game between Arizona-Stanford averaged 3.63 million viewers on ESPN and peaked at 5.3 million.Β Final TV ratings for the game are expected to be released by ESPN later this week.
The game went down to the wire with Arizona falling 54-53 as Aari McDonald's 3-point heave for the win at the buzzer was no good. Stanford captured its first national championship since 1992 and third under coach TaraΒ VanDerveer.
The 3.63 million viewers make it the most-watched game of the 2021 women's tournament, though it's a slight decline from 2019's Notre Dame-Baylor title game which drew 3.69 million.
However, Sunday's viewership did top the 2018 championship game between Notre Dame and Mississippi State (3.5 million).
Arizona, led by coach Adia Barnes and senior guard Aari McDonald, made its first Final Four and national championship appearance in school history. The Wildcats upset No. 1 seed UConn in Friday's semifinal to reach the title game.
Arizona-UConn was the most-watched late semifinal game since 2017 and drew an average of 2.5 million viewers.
