Linda Raunig was one of Capital High's first basketball superstars. From 1973- 75, she dominated the local prep game and became the most prolific scorer in Capital girls hoops history.

The Bruins qualified for the state tournament all three years, with Raunig leading the team in scoring and rebounding each season. At the University of Denver, where she paced the Lady Pioneers in both categories all four years, her extraordinary accomplishments were such that she became the first athlete in school history to have their number retired.

The initial year of sanctioned girls basketball in Montana took place after Title IX in 1973, and also coincided with the opening of Capital High. Raunig, a sophomore, started the very first game for CHS and went on to play every contest for the next three years. Against Boulder, she poured in 36 points, which still stands as a school record, 32 years later. In the regular season finale, a 77-55 win over Manhattan Christian, she netted 33 points and pulled down 21 boards. At the Southern Division championship game in Red Lodge, Raunig canned 33 points in a losing effort to undefeated Hardin.

In 1974, coach Bob Ronan's Bruins compiled a 20-5 record. Raunig scorched the nets for 34 points in the opening-round loss to Hardin at the 1974 Southern A Division Tournament, and the 5-foot-11 forward went on to lead the playoffs with a 23.6 pointsper- game average. CHS recovered to win their next four games to qualify for state.

Her senior year, Capital garnered the division tourney championship and again Raunig was the playoff's top scorer, at 22 points per game (ppg). In perhaps the biggest game of the tournament at the Helena High gym, CHS upset heavily favored Billings Central 48- 46, powered by Raunig's 26 points. The Bruin girls would defeat nemesis Hardin 52-24 in the title game. In the first contest at state against Miles City, she pumped in 32 points in spearheading the team to a hard-fought 52-47 victory. CHS next lost two close battles to place fourth and finished at 16-6. Linda led all scorers in the tournament with a healthy 23-point average.

Her longstanding school records, which are still intact, include: career average, 17.8 ppg; season average, 18.45 ppg; career points, 1,174; and season points, 425. She was selected to the all-conference, all-divisional tournament and all-state tourney first teams both of her final two years.

The versatile Raunig earned six letters at Capital — three in basketball, two in golf and one in track and field. She propelled the Bruins to two Divisional golf championships, claiming the 1976 individual Southern Division crown with a 172, which was 24 strokes better than the runner up. At state, CHS placed sixth while Raunig took fifth. In the Helena women's slowpitch softball league, Raunig was a left fielder and first baseman on several city championships for Ingram-Clevenger, Inc. (ICI).

She went on to play hoops for the University of Denver, where she established 16 scoring and rebounding records, "splitting the iron orbit" for a 17.1 ppg career average and amassing 995 rebounds.

As the Pioneer's co-captain in 1980, she was voted team MVP and the school's Female Athlete of the Year. She had two Olympic tryouts, in 1976 and 1980. After graduating with a B.A. in Physical Education, Raunig played roundball for one year with the Phoenix Flames of the old Ladies Professional Basketball Association. Linda said that one of her biggest thrills was competing against the great Nancy Lieberman in a pickup game. In 1994, her No. 32 was retired by DU, and two years later she became a charter member of the Pioneer's Hall of Fame.

She earned a Master of Science in P.E. from Washington State in 1982 and then turned to coaching hoops, assisting at Washington State, Arizona State and Ball State before taking over the head job at Regis University in Denver.

"During her 14 years at the helm," according to the Regis University Web site, "Linda has compiled a 229- 157 (.593) overall record and is the school's all-time winningest women's basketball coach."

Raunig's teams have gone 87-33 over the last four years, including 23-8 this season, when she was named 2005 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. She serves as the Regis Athletic Department's NCAA Compliance Coordinator as well as a member of the Women's Basketball Rules Committee. On the golf course, nowadays the 46-year-old Raunig carries a 5.1 handicap, and has carded a lifetime best round of 74 "a couple of times."

Ronan, when describing of his former star, said, "Whenever Linda got in the paint, they couldn't stop her from scoring."