UNLV roundup: McCoy one of 10 finalists for Abdul-Jabbar award

UNLV freshman Brandon McCoy was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award watch list.

McCoy was recognized as one of the nation’s top 10 collegiate centers by the organization and is a candidate for the 2018 award named after Hall of Famer and three-time NCAA champion Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

A national committee of top college basketball personnel determined in October the watch list of 20 candidates, which has been narrowed to 10.

In March, five finalists will be presented to Abdul-Jabbar and the Hall of Fame’s selection committee. The winner will be honored at ESPN’s College Basketball Awards in Los Angeles on April 6.

McCoy, a Chicago native, has averaged team bests of 17.6 points and 9.9 rebounds per game this season.

SOFTBALL

At Eller Media Stadium, Justine Federe hit a two-run single with one out in the ninth inning — the Rebels’ lone hit — to lift UNLV to a season-opening 3-2 win over North Dakota State in the Sportco Kickoff Classic.

Bison starter Jacquelyn Sertic, a Reed High School product, struck out 15 in 8 1/3 innings.

In the Rebels’ second game, freshman Mia Trejo hit a three-run homer in the third inning as UNLV downed Creighton 4-2.

Against North Dakota State (1-1), starting in the eighth inning, with the score tied at 1, the teams opened by placing a runner on second base. The Bison took the lead in the ninth on a run-scoring wild pitch.

In the bottom of the inning, Brooke Stover opened on second, Janine Petmecky drew a one-out intentional walk and was replaced by pinch runner Vivian Quiroz-Montano, and Federe drove in both with a hit to right-center.

Petmecky had a sacrifice fly that tied the score at 1 in the sixth. The Bison had taken the lead on doubles by Vanessa Anderson and Bre Beatty in the fifth.

UNLV starter Charlie Masterson (1-0) went the distance, allowing one earned run on five hits and one walk. She struck out four.

Sertic allowed four walks and two earned runs.

Against the Bluejays (0-1), Petmecky had two hits, including an RBI single in the sixth, and Myranda Bueno, Jadelyn Yadao-Valdez and Samantha Diaz also had two hits, helping UNLV (2-0) to a 12-5 edge in hits.

TRACK AND FIELD

At Seattle, Avi’Tal Perteete, Yamilet Biggers, Spencer Moore and Elisa Rovere placed third in the distance medley relay at the Husky Invitational in 11 minutes, 38.42 seconds, breaking the UNLV record in the event by 6.96 seconds.

Perteete led off with a time of 3:27 over 1,200 meters, followed by Biggers (56.5 seconds over 400 meters), Moore (2:15.1 over 800 meters) and Rovere (4:59.7 over 1,600 meters).

UNLV’s previous record was posted by Laura Affeld, Mandy Chitwood, Miranda Menzies and Azsane Crowe-Carter in 2014.

The Rebels have entrants in nine events Saturday.

The two-day meet includes No. 1-ranked Arkansas, No. 3 Oregon, No. 8 Texas, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Stanford, No. 17 Michigan and several other collegiate teams.

CROSS COUNTRY

The Rebels were named a 2017 NCAA Division I All-Academic Team after the squad posted a 3.08 cumulative grade-point average, the United States Track & Field Cross Country Coaches Association announced.

UNLV had eight athletes — Kennedy Allen, Yamilet Biggers, Lindy Eskin, Skyler Free, Avi’Tal Perteete, Elisa Rovere, Nicole Snow and Emma Wahlenmaier — make the semester dean’s list, with a cumulative 3.43 GPA.

Allen, Perteete and Wahlenmaier each had a 4.00 GPA.