Girls Finals take center stage

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The 2010 IHSAA Girls State Basketball Finals are taking center stage at the Memorial Coliseum. It's not an event that came together overnight, and there were some doubters at the beginning.

The change over began after last night's Fort Wayne Mad Ants game.

"It's been non stop ever since," said Randy Brown, General Manger of the Memorial Coliseum.

Crews worked tirelessly overnight to get ready for the Girls State Finals.

"It's almost like theater, you come in one day it looks one way, you come in the next morning it looks totally different," said Brown.

At 9:30am on the dot, fans made their way through the main doors, and into the rotunda. Their tickets were scanned, and then it was on to the seats to cheer on their favorite school.

"Fort Wayne made us an offer we couldn't refuse," said Thereisa Wynns, Assistant Commissioner, Indiana High School Athletic Association.

The Coliseum changeover took one night, but preparing for the Indiana High School Athletic Association took months.

"Top of the line as it relates to organization and management," said Wynns.

When fans heard a scheduling conflict would move the finals from Indy to Fort Wayne, they had their doubts.

"Little disapointed just because we knew it would be harder for more people to get here," said Annie Pratt, Vincennes fan.

"Wasn't very happy about it, two more hours to drive," said Sam Worland, Vincennes fan.

Now the big question is, what do these out of town fans think of Fort Wayne?

"It's been great, we loved our hotel it was so accommodating, beautiful facility we love this facility, way better than Lucas Oil Stadium, I must say for the facility," said Pratt.

"This is really nice, a lot better than Lucas Oil Stadium to watch a basketball game, that's not a very good place to watch a basketball game," said Worland.

The IHSAA appreciates the effort.

"Those are the kinds of things they've done, the extra kind of steps that they've taken to make this tournament successful for us," said Wynns.

The IHSAA has not yet decided on a site for next year's event, but Fort Wayne is sure to be a candidate for other major high school events.