Happy birthday, Colorado — and Colorado sports.

Leading into the state’s 150th birthday Aug. 1, The Denver Gazette has partnered with the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame to publicize the definitive list of Colorado’s top 150 sports moments.

Colorado Sports Hall of Fame historian Dave Plati and a committee of 10 compiled and will release the list every week until the No. 1 moment on July 31. Plati and Broncos icon Jim Saccomano will unveil the list weekly on a Colorado Sports Hall of Fame podcast at coloradosports.org/podcast/.

No. 143

Jan. 5, 1982 

Colorado State senior guard Kathy Lightfoot scored 45 points in a 118-54 win over Southern Colorado in Fort Collins — to date the most points in a single game by a Division I player in the state. Lightfoot made 21 field goals and was 3 of 4 from the free-throw line. The state’s college best for women encompassing all divisions is a 51-point effort by the late Carroll Lillie of Southern Colorado (now CSU Pueblo) in an 82-80 overtime loss to St. Mary’s of the Plains on Dec. 3, 1979.

—Dave Plati, Colorado Sports Hall of Fame historian