Men’s basketball
Gabriel McCarthy, Daily Bruin reporter
Former UCLA men’s basketball’s point guard Lonzo Ball was named to the NBA All-Rookie second team for the 2017-2018 season.
Ball played in 52 out of the 82 regular season games and started 50. He averaged 10.2 points, 7.2 assists and 6.9 rebounds in 34.2 minutes played per game.
The Chino Hills, California, native finished the season tied for first in steals among rookies and second in assists. Ball also recorded 13 double-doubles and two triple-doubles. At 20 years and 15 days old, he passed LeBron James as the youngest player in NBA history to record a triple-double.
Ball had a 36 percent field-goal percentage, including a 30.5 percent clip on 3-point attempts. He shot the lowest percentage of all NBA players, averaging just over 10 points per game and missed 30 games of his rookie season due to injury.
Ball was named a consensus All-American his freshman year at UCLA, starting all 36 of the Bruins’ games. He averaged 14.6 points, recording a 55.1 percent field-goal percentage and a 41.2 percent 3-point shooting percentage.
Ball was selected by the NBA’s assistant coaches to represent Team USA at the Mountain Dew Kickstart Rising Stars game during this season’s All-Star weekend.
Softball
Angie Forburger, Assistant Sports editor
UCLA softball’s Rachel Garcia was named the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year at the Women’s College World Series banquet in Oklahoma City on Tuesday.
The redshirt sophomore is only the second Bruin to earn the award, the first being Stacey Nuveman, who received the honor in 2002.
Garcia led UCLA with a 1.02 ERA this year. She has posted a 27-3 overall record so far, with 273 strikeouts in 185 innings pitched.
Garcia has also contributed at the plate this season with a batting average of .356, including 11 home runs and 53 RBIs.
Last week, the pitcher took home the espnW national player of the year award, adding to her series of accolades earned this year. Garcia was also recognized as National Fastpitch Coaches Association all-region first team, all-Pac-12 first team and Pac-12 conference player of the year, along with a plethora of weekly honors.
Garcia has pitched in all the games so far for the Bruins in the NCAA tournament. She has gone 6-1 across the seven-game stretch, recording a .83 ERA and 55 total strikeouts. Offensively, the redshirt sophomore has a .364 batting average and two home runs in the NCAAs.
Garcia will lead No. 3-seeded UCLA (56-5, 20-4 Pac-12) as it begins play in the Women’s College World Series on Thursday against No. 6-seeded Florida State.
Women’s water polo
Joy Hong, Daily Bruin staff
Four Bruins were named All-Americans by the Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches on Monday.
UCLA women’s water polo’s rising junior attacker Maddie Musselman, graduating senior attacker Devin Grab, rising junior attacker Bronte Halligan and rising senior goalkeeper Carlee Kapana were the honorees.
Musselman earned first-team recognition for a second consecutive season. After leading UCLA in goals scored as a rookie, Musselman led the Bruins again this season with 53 goals. She averaged 1.83 goals per game, logged eight hat tricks and notched 19 games in which she scored at least 2 goals.
Halligan and Kapana earned All-American honors as first-timers.
After sitting out for the most of last season due to injury, Grab registered 27 goals and 22 assists, earning her second-team honors. Halligan earned third-team honors after leading UCLA in both steals and assists, with 58 and 34 of each, respectively.
In the cage, Kapana averaged 9.21 saves per game, totaling 180 over the course of the season, which earned her recognition as honorable mention.
UCLA finished the season with a loss in the semifinals at the NCAA tournament, but the Bruins will return with three of their four All-Americans next season.