AP Sportlight

Feb. 20

1951 - In the wake of the college point-shaving scandal, Long Island University drops basketball and all other intercollegiate sports. LIU revives basketball in 1957.

1971 - En route to a record 76-goal season, Boston’s Phil Esposito becomes the first player to score his 50th goal in February, but the Bruins lose to the Los Angeles Kings 5-4.

1974 - Gordie Howe, the NHL’s career scoring leader, comes out of retirement and signs a $1 million, four-year contract to play with the Houston Aeros of the WHA and his two sons, Mark and Marty.

1976 - Muhammad Ali beats Jean-Pierre Coopman with a fifth-round knockout at the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in Puerto Rico to defend his world heavyweight title.

1988 - In Calgary, Alberta, Brian Boitano of the United States wins the men’s Olympic figure skating gold medal on a technical merit tiebreaker and nearly flawless free skating performance.

1998 - Tara Lipinski, 15, becomes the youngest Olympic figure skating champion in history, jumping over fellow teen and U.S. teammate Michelle Kwan to take the gold. Lipinski, at 15 years, 8 months and 10 days, is two months younger than Sonja Henie was in her 1928 victory.

2000 - Defending Winston Cup champ Dale Jarrett wins his third Daytona 500 in eight years, passing surprise contender Johnny Benson for the lead four laps from the end.

2005 - Jeff Gordon grabs the lead from Dale Earnhardt Jr., then holds off Kurt Busch and Earnhardt in extra laps to win his third Daytona 500.

2006 - Tanith Belbin and partner Ben Agosto snap the U.S. medals drought in the Olympic figure skating dance competition with a silver. Belbin and Agosto win the first dance medal for the United States since the bronze won by Colleen O’Connor and James Millns in 1976.

2009 - Lindsey Van of the United States nails a perfect second jump to become the first women’s ski jumping world champion. Women’s ski jumping debuts at this year’s Nordic skiing world championships in Liberec, Czech Republic. Todd Lodwick wins the opening Nordic combined event to give the United States two golds in one day. Before Van’s victory, the United States had not won a gold at a Nordic skiing worlds since 2003, when Johnny Spillane took a Nordic combined sprint.

2011 - Twenty-year-old Trevor Bayne wins the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s biggest race, in only his second Sprint Cup start. Just one day after his birthday, Bayne holds off Carl Edwards by 0.118 seconds and becomes the youngest Daytona 500 winner.

2011 - Kobe Bryant wins his record-tying fourth All-Star game MVP award in front of his hometown fans, scoring 37 points and propelling the West to a 148-143 victory over the East in the NBA All-Star game.

2016 - Lindsey Vonn clinches a record 20th World Cup crystal globe title and surpassing Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark. It’s Vonn’s record eighth downhill title - adding to four overall globes plus five in super-G and three in combined. Sweden’s Stenmark held the previous record of 19 globes established from 1975 to 1984.

2018 - South Korea wins the penalty-filled women’s 3,000-meter short-track relay final at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Italy took silver and the Netherlands earns bronze after being elevated to the podium after winning the B final in world-record time. China and Canada are penalized, moving Italy from bronze to silver. The Dutch won the B final in 4:03.471, lowering the mark of 4:04.222 set by South Korea in November 2016 at Salt Lake City, Utah.

2019 - Duke’s freshman sensation Zion Williamson is knocked out of the North Carolina-Duke rivalry game with a knee sprain after his Nike shoe blows out during the top-ranked Blue Devils’ opening possession. Luke Maye takes full advantage of the freak injury to Williamson, finishing with 30 points and 15 rebounds to lead No. 8 North Carolina past No. 1 Duke 88-72 at Durham.

Feb. 21

1931 - The Chicago White Sox meet the New York Giants in the first major league night game. The 10-inning exhibition is played in Houston.

1952 - The Boston Celtics and the Fort Wayne Pistons tip off at midnight in a “Milkman’s Special” following an Ice Follies performance at Boston Garden. Bob Cousy of the Celtics scores 24 points in front 2,368 customers in a 88-67 win.

1952 - Dick Button performs the first triple jump in a figure skating competition.

1953 - In the longest game in college basketball in history, Niagara beats Siena, 88-81 in six overtimes.

1960 - Philadelphia Warriors rookie Wilt Chamberlain sets an NBA record with his fourth 50-point game of the season, scoring 58 in a 129-122 victory over the New York Knicks.

1970 - Bobby Hull scores two goals, including the 500th of his career, in the Chicago Black Hawks’ 4-2 win over the New York Rangers.

1970 - Pete Maravich scores 64 points but Louisiana State still loses to Kentucky, 121-105. Dan Issel scores 51 for the Wildcats.

1976 - New York’s Red Holzman becomes the second NBA coach, after Red Auerbach, to win 500 games with a 102-98 victory over New Orleans.

1980 - Speedskater Eric Heiden sets his fourth straight Olympic record by winning the 1500-meter race in 1:55.44 at the Lake Placid Games.

1992 - Kristi Yamaguchi wins America’s first Olympic gold medal in women’s figure skating since 1976. Midori Ito of Japan takes the silver and Nancy Kerrigan of the United States wins bronze.

1993 - The West defeats the East 135-132 in overtime in the NBA All-Star Game in Salt Lake City. Utah’s John Stockton (15 assists) and Karl Malone (28 points) become the first players from the same NBA team to ever share the All-Star Game MVP award.

2002 - U.S. figure skater Sarah Hughes jumps from fourth to first to win the Olympic gold after a near-flawless performance, leaving teammate Michelle Kwan to settle for a bronze. The powerful Americans lose a 3-2 gold medal game to a Canadian team that it had beaten eight consecutive times in women’s ice hockey.

2014 - Mikaela Shiffrin makes Alpine skiing history as the youngest ever winner of an Olympic slalom gold medal. The 18-year-old American finishes 0.53 seconds faster than Austrian Marlies Schild.

2016 - Denny Hamlin wins the Daytona 500, edging Martin Truex Jr. by inches at the finish line. The margin of victory is 0.011 seconds, the closest in race history.

2016 - Anthony Davis scores a franchise-record 59 points and adds 20 rebounds as the New Orleans Pelicans beat the Detroit Pistons 111-106.

2018 - Sofia Goggia of Italy wins the women’s Olympic downhill, with Lindsey Vonn taking the bronze. Vonn finishes 0.47 seconds behind Goggia. At 33, Vonn becomes the oldest female medalist in Alpine skiing at the Winter Games. The record was held by Austria’s Michaela Dorfmeister, who was just shy of her 33rd birthday when she won the downhill and the super-G at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

2018 - The United States wins its first Olympic gold medal in women’s cross-country skiing, and Norwegian skier Marit Bjoergen becomes the most decorated Winter Olympian of all time by taking bronze at the Pyeongchang Games. Kikkan Randall and Jessie Diggins win the women’s team sprint freestyle race, outsprinting more heralded teams from Sweden and Norway. Bjoergen and teammate Maiken Caspersen Falla win the bronze medal. Bjoergen wins her 14th career medal at the Winter Olympic Games, passing Norwegian biathlete Ole Einar Bjourndalen for the most ever.

2018 - Alex Tuch scores the tiebreaking goal in the second period and the Vegas Golden Knights pulls away for a 7-3 victory over the Calgary Flames. The win moves the Golden Knights back atop the NHL standings with 84 points - a record for an expansion team in its inaugural season - one point ahead of Eastern Conference-leading Tampa Bay.

Feb. 22

1936 - Figure skater Sonja Henie wins her 10th straight world championship.

1959 - Lee Petty, driving an Oldsmobile, wins the first Daytona 500.

1969 - Barbara Jo Rubin becomes the first female jockey to win a race at an American thoroughbred track when she rides Cohesian to a neck victory over Reely Beeg in the ninth race at Charles Town in West Virginia.

1975 - Madison Square Garden hosts its first women’s collegiate basketball game. In a rematch of the 1973 national championship game, defending national champion Immaculata beats Queens College 65-31, before a crowd of 11,969.

1980 - The United States Olympic hockey team stuns the Soviet Union with a 4-3 victory in the medal round of the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. Captain Mike Eruzione scores the game-winning goal midway through the final period.

1981 - Rookies Peter and Anton Stastny each score eight points as the Quebec Nordiques beat the Washington Capitals 11-7. Peter scores four goals and four assists and Aaron has three goals and five assists.

1988 - Hersey Hawkins scores 63 points as Bradley beats Detroit 122-107. Archie Tullos scores 49 points for the Titans.

1988 - Bonnie Blair wins America’s second gold medal at the Winter Olympics in world-record time, beating Christa Rothenburger of East Germany by .02 seconds in the 500-meter speed skating.

1993 - Glenn Anderson becomes the 36th NHL player with 1,000 points, picking up a goal and two assists to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Vancouver Canucks 8-1.

1998 - Bjorn Dahlie, the Norwegian cross-country skiing great, extends his Winter Olympics record by picking up his 12th medal, and record eighth gold, in the last race of Nagano - the 50-kilometer.

2006 - Gene Bess becomes the first college basketball coach to win 1,000 games when Three Rivers Community College beat Forest Park 77-60.

2008 - Lindsey Vonn clinches the World Cup downhill title, becoming the first American woman to claim the crown since Picabo Street in 1996. Nadia Styger of Switzerland wins the race at Whistler, British Columbia with Vonn finishing 0.01 behind Styger.

2008 - The Indy Racing League and the Champ Car World Series sign a deal to unify the two American open-wheel circuits, bringing them under the umbrella of the IRL.

2010 - Caltech ends its 310-game conference losing streak in men’s basketball beating Occidental College 46-45 in its season finale. The Division III Beavers had lost every Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game they had played since Jan. 23, 1985.

2013 - American teenager Sarah Hendrickson wins the women’s ski jumping title at the Nordic skiing world championships held in Val Di Fiemme, Italy. The 18-year-old Hendrickson becomes the second American to win the world championship after Lindsey Van won the inaugural event in 2009 in Liberec, Czech Republic.

2014 - Marit Bjoergen wins her sixth career gold medal by leading a Norwegian sweep in the women’s 30-kilometer cross-country race. Bjoergen becomes the most decorated female Winter Olympian in history with 10 total medals and six gold, including three in Sochi and three from Vancouver. Two other women - Stafania Belmondo of Italy and Soviet skier Raisa Smetanina - also have 10 medals, but fewer golds.

2016 - Tennessee’s 31-year run in the Women’s Top 25 ends. The Lady Vols streak of 565 consecutive weeks in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll is over as Tennessee falls out of the Top 25. The streak started Feb. 17, 1985. UConn, which is ranked No. 1 for the 200th time, have currently been ranked for 428 consecutive weeks.

2018 - The U.S. women’s hockey team ends a 20-year gold medal drought by beating archrival Canada 3-2 in a shootout thriller at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Canada had won the last four Olympic gold medals.

2018 - Drexel overcomes a 34-point first-half deficit to set the men’s Division I record and beats Delaware 85-83. Delaware led 53-19 with 2:36 remaining in the first half and had a 56-29 lead at halftime.