BRIEFLY : MITCHELL RETAINS TITLE IN OPEN-SCORING BOUT.

Byline: - Daily News Wire Services

Sharmba Mitchell retained his World Boxing Association super lightweight crown Saturday night in Washington with a majority decision over Reggie Green in a bout influenced by open scoring.

Because scores were given on a round-by-round basis, it was apparent that only a knockout in the 12th round would prevent Mitchell from successfully defending his title for a third successive time.

``I played it safe at the end, even though he was punching hard,'' Mitchell said.

Helped by a knockdown in the first round, the only one in the fight, Mitchell took a seemingly insurmountable lead into the final round.

``I knew I had to knock him out at the end,'' Green said.

It marked the first time since the 1980s that fans at a major boxing match could monitor the scoring after each round.

Two earlier title fights on the card had a different version of open scoring, providing scores after every four rounds.

In the first fight, Mark Johnson claimed the vacant International Boxing Federation junior bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Ratanachai Vorapin of Thailand. In the second bout, Keith Holmes reclaimed the World Boxing Council middleweight title by stopping Hacine Cherifi at 2:13 of the seventh round.

WBA bantamweight champion Johnny Tapia retained his title with a first-round knockout of Alberto Martinez in Albuquerque, N.M.

GYMNASTICS: Utah freshman Theresa Kulikowski shared the balance beam title with UCLA senior Kiralee Hayashi and Alabama freshman Andree Pickens at the NCAA individual women's championships at Salt Lake City.

UCLA's Heidi Moneymaker and Georgia's Karin Lichey fell during their beam routines. But Moneymaker, competing on two sprained ankles, made up for it in her next event by scoring a 9.8625 on the vault to edge Kulikowski's 9.8375.

TENNIS: Gustavo Kuerten battled his way into the title match of the $2.2 million Monte Carlo Open by beating Spain's Felix Mantilla 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Kuerten will play Marcelo Rios, who also needed three sets to beat Frenchman Jerome Golmard 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

BASKETBALL: Former Notre Dame coach Johnny Dee died of cancer, his son said. Dee, who had a second career as a lawyer, was 75. Dee was the coach at Notre Dame from 1964-71, leading his team to the NCAA Tournament in his first season and to an overall record of 116-80 in seven seasons.

HOCKEY: Dallas Stars center Guy Carbonneau will be out of the lineup for at least seven days with an injury to his right knee, missing the rest of the Stars' playoff series against the Edmonton Oilers.