ON THIS DATE
1939: The barnstorming Renaissance Five beat the NBL champion Oshkosh All-stars, 34-25, to win the first annual World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago. Sports reporters of the day make no mention of the fact that all the Rens are black and the All-stars are all white.
1942: Stanford beats Dartmouth 53-38 for the NCAA basketball championship.
1944: Arnold Ferrin’s 22 points leads Utah to a 42-40 victory over Dartmouth for the NCAA basket championship.
1950: CCNY beats Bradley 71-68 in the NCAA basketball final to become the only team to win the NIT and NCAA titles in the same year. CCNY beat Bradley 69-61 in the NIT on March 18.
1971: Gail Goodrich of the Los Angeles Lakers sets an NBA playoff record for most free throws (17) without a miss in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals. Goodrich leads all scorers with 39 points in the 106-98 loss at Chicago.
1977: Marquette beats North Carolina 67-59 for the NCAA basketball title.
1982: Louisiana Tech beats Cheyney State 76-62 in the NCAA’S first women’s basketball championship. The tournament replaces the AIAW championship which had been held since 1972.
1989: Southwestern Louisiana pitchers Cathy Mcallister and Stefni Whitton pitch back-to-back perfect games against Southeastern Louisiana, a first in NCAA Division I softball history. Mcallister strikes out 10 in a 5-0 victory and Whitton has 14 strikeouts in a 7-0 triumph.
1990: Michael Jordan scores 69 points to help Chicago beat Cleveland 117-113 in overtime and clinch a playoff spot.
1992: Christian Laettner hits a 15-foot turnaround jumper at the buzzer to give defending champion Duke a 104-103 overtime victory over Kentucky and a fifth consecutive trip to the Final Four. 1993: Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets scores his 69th and 70th goals of the season in a 3-3 tie with the Los Angeles Kings. Selanne is the eighth player, and first rookie, to have a 70-goal NHL season.
2006: Oklahoma center Courtney Paris is the first freshman selected for The Associated Press All-america team in women’s basketball. Paris averaged 21.4 points and led the nation in rebounding (15.1). She is the first NCAA women’s player with 700 points, 500 rebounds and 100 blocks in a season.
2012: The NFL’S new rule for postseason overtime is expanded to cover the regular season on a 30-2 vote by the NFL owners. All games that go into overtime cannot end on a field goal on the first possession.
2015: Breanna Stewart has 31 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to help Uconn rout Texas 105-54, earning coach Geno Auriemma his 100th NCAA Tournament win. Auriemma is the second coach to reach the century mark, joining Pat Summitt, who finished with 112 victories in her career.