Women’s college basketball players putting on a show Central New Yorkers are eager to watch

SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) – The star-studded rosters of the women’s NCAA Tournament have Central New Yorkers thrilled the games are in Albany this weekend, March 30-31.

A show so elite that tickets for the women’s tournament are going as quick as Caitlin Clark can hit a three.

“So, we bought tickets probably the beginning of February. They were $61.43, and now, the tickets in the section were sitting in are going for $1,400,” Melissa Ferrara, a CNY girl’s basketball coach, said.

Coach Ferrara’s basketball journey started in fourth grade, and now, she’s watching the sport she loves get the respect it deserves.

“To have this many female athletes for young girls to follow is absolutely amazing, and a lot of the coaches are the girls that we used to watch, or the news broadcasters now are the girls we used to watch play when we were growing up. So it’s almost a full circle, and to see that’s pretty cool,” Ferrara said.

While Ferrara was preparing to go to Albany, other Central New Yorkers were already there.

“We found out a couple of days ago the district got some money I guess through the Allen Foundation, who supports causes like this, got all of our girls tickets, got some meal money, and got us a coach bus, We’re riding in style,” Ben Kochan, coach of the Henninger girl’s basketball team, said.

Players from Henninger, Nottingham and Syracuse West all got to experience the hype in real-time.

“It’s amazing because when I first started coaching girls’ basketball, the girls didn’t know the girls, they knew the NBA stars. They are fully locked in now, these young women here at the collegiate level, and they know who they are, and it makes a big difference,” Kochan said.

And the hype certainly delivered.