LEHIGH VALLEY FLASHBACK
A look back at Lehigh Valley sports stories over the years from March 3.
2006: With her father — who led Freedom to its last District 11 girls basketball title — at her side, Kelly (Senneca) Mikulski guides the Patriots to a 44-40 upset of defending champion Parkland in the Class 4A title game. It’s the Patriots’ first title since Sam Senneca led them to the 1987 crown. Freedom holds Parkland scoreless for the final 4:53, and Alex Berlin’s 3-pointer with 2:23 left puts the Patriots on top 42-40. DeAnna Rayam paces the winners with 22 points.
2006: Muhlenberg (26-2) erases a 10-point deficit with seven minutes left and closes the game with an 18-4 run to beat Wesleyan, Conn., 57-50 in a first-round NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament game. One night later, the Mules take a six-point halftime lead on host Mary Washington but are outscored 45-19 in the second half, including 29-6 over one stretch, and are eliminated in a 68-48 loss. Meanwhile, Moravian travels to Ashland, Va., for its first-round games and misses seven of its last nine shots after pulling within two with four minutes left in a 93-80 loss to Greensboro. The Greyhounds, who play to a 49-49 halftime tie, shoot just 23.8% after intermission.
2003: Pleasant Valley wins its first District 11 girls basketball championship with a 37-29 victory over Easton in the Class 4A title game.
2000: Liberty wins its first-ever District 11 girls basketball championship, beating Emmaus 43-40 in the 4A final.
1995: Two teams win their fourth straight District 11 championship: the Central Catholic boys (Class 3A) with a 41-29 win over Bethlehem Catholic, and the Notre Dame girls (2A) with a 51-41 win over Palmerton. The next day, the Bethlehem Catholic girls would join the club with a 48-34 win over North Schuylkill in the Class 3A title game, making Golden Hawks coach Dick Schmidt the only coach to win four straight titles as a boys coach (Dieruff, 1966-69) and as a girls coach.
1990: Championships by Joe Cappollela and Kevin Krautsack help Catasauqua win the District 11 Class 2A team wrestling title, the school’s first.
1990: Scranton knocks Allentown College from the NCAA
Division III women’s tournament with an 81-70 second-round victory.
1985: Lafayette blasts Lehigh 72-52 for the school’s first East
Coast Conference title and capping a school-record 24-6 season. 1981: Whitehall (28-1) wins its 25th straight game and avenges its only loss by beating Easton 41-35 for the East Penn Conference boys basketball title.
1981: Dieruff (24-3) ties the school record for girls basketball victories in a season and wins the East Penn Conference championship with a 40-37 victory over Whitehall behind 20 points and 10 steals by Litty Hyman.
1970: Bob Fortune scores 24 points in his final game, a 91-71 loss at Rutgers, to set Lehigh’s career scoring record at 1,241 points.
1961: George Tomchick’s basket with 35 seconds to play lifts Tamaqua to a 52-51 win over Mahanoy Area and into the District 11 Class A basketball tournament finals for the third time in four years. The win is the 16th straight for the Blue Raiders.