Women’s sports are on the climb.

A Wasserman report showed that women’s sports received 15% of media coverage in 2022, a significant uptick from 2019, when a show like ESPN’s SportsCenter only spent 5.7% of its time on women’s sports.

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USC women’s basketball (13-1, 3-1 Pac-12) has seen the effects of these trends not only in coverage but attendance numbers. There were 10,657 fans who flocked to Galen Center to watch the Trojans take down their crosstown rival UCLA Bruins (14-1, 3-1 Pac-12), the then-No. 2 team in the country.

“They used to tell us that no one came to watch women’s basketball at USC,” Trojan Head Coach Lindsay Gottlieb said to the crowd after the 73-65 win. “These young women here, they heard that. They believed that if we put this product on the floor and we did this, y’all would come, and look at you now.”

This edition of the crosstown showdown broke the record for highest attendance at a game hosted at Galen Center, which is also the home to other USC sports such as men’s basketball and women’s volleyball.

But that has not been the case for most of the season. The fact that USC and UCLA are archrivals — and both ranked in the Associated Press Top 10 — brought extra attention to the game. The Trojans have only averaged 3,462 fans per game across nine true home games. That number includes the record-breaking game between the Trojans and Bruins, skewing the average by a significant margin.

UCLA Head Coach Cori Close — although she appreciated the crowd at USC — left a request with fans and journalists alike after the USC-UCLA game.

“I would challenge the fan base. I challenge all of you: Don’t just show up when we play each other,” Close said. “And, I challenge you guys to tell the stories all year long, so this doesn’t become a ‘one and done.’ This becomes a really special basketball team on both sides of Southern California that deserves to have their stories [told].”

While certain games, like rivalry matchups, will draw more fans than others, there has been a disparity between the men’s and women’s teams at USC. The men’s team (8-9, 2-4 Pac-12) drew 6,211 to its home opener against CSU Bakersfield (5-11, 0-5 Big West) on a Thursday night, while only 4,712 attended the women’s home opener against Florida Gulf Coast (13-4, 3-0 Atlantic Sun) the following evening.

Even that 4,712-person crowd was spectacular, slotting in as the highest-attended women’s basketball game at Galen Center since 2010 at the time. This comes during a year where the men’s team is sub-.500 and the women’s team is the AP No. 6 team in the country.

With the men’s team having a down year, the women’s team has the opportunity to establish itself as the team to see not only this year, but beyond. 

Star freshman guard JuJu Watkins — who recently won the AP National Player of the Week award and her ninth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award this season — will likely stay for multiple years, as it is not common for players to leave school early for the WNBA like it is for players entering the NBA. Gottlieb and the Trojans also recently signed six top-100 recruits, three of whom are rated as five stars, according to ESPN.

USC women’s basketball has the opportunity to bring leagues of people to Galen Center for the rest of the season, not only because of the caliber of the Trojans, but also because of how tough of a schedule the team has for the rest of the season.

It starts this weekend when the Trojans head to the mountains to take on the No. 20 Utah Utes (12-5, 2-3 Pac-12) Friday before heading to Boulder to take on the No. 3 Colorado Buffaloes (15-1, 5-0 Pac-12) Sunday.

The Utes are led by former Trojan senior forward Alissa Pili, who averages 21.9 points per game. Pili — the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year — will be a tough force to stop, but if USC can do so and win, it will only further push crowds to turn out at Galen Center.

The Trojans will have the chance to add their third win over an AP Top 10 team this year when they take on the Buffaloes. This would likely be the most difficult one, though, as it would be the first of those three wins that is a true road game.

If they can take down two more ranked opponents, the Trojans should have no problem attracting fans to their home games. But the problem is, people will stop coming if USC stops winning.

“[Los Angeles] likes winners,” Gottlieb said. “They like a show, they show up when you’re good. It’s magical, and I think both [USC and UCLA’s] programs have a lot to do with that.”

Even if USC’s success tails off in the coming years — and all signs point to that not happening — that would not be a good reason for low attendance. At the men’s team’s last home game on a Wednesday night, 6,218 fans scampered over to Galen Center for a team that was a mere 8-7 at the time. A top-10 team should be able to do the same.

Gottlieb and Close might be on the opposite side of the city, but they agree on one thing: These two teams are too talented for their successes to go unnoticed.

“We have a special opportunity here,” Close said. “Don’t let Southern California miss it.”

Fans will have their next opportunity to cheer on the women’s basketball team at Galen Center when the Trojans take on Washington State (12-5, 1-3 Pac-12) Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.