Konawaena seniors Chanelle Molina and Ihi Victor leave behind quite a legacy on two floors of a basketball Empire State Building.
Under their watch, the Wildcats have won four BIIF Division I titles, increasing the program’s league record winning streak to 92-0.
Kona also captured consecutive HHSAA state championships and finished runner-up in 2013 to Kamehameha-Kapalama, suffering a 45-39 overtime loss.
On Friday, Molina was her brilliant self, scoring 24 points on 8 of 11 shooting, as the No. 1 seed Wildcats defeated No. 3 Maryknoll 44-34 for the state title.
It wasn’t surprising that all five starters — Molina and her sisters Celena and Cherilyn, Victor, and Mikayla Tablit — played the entire game, all 32 minutes.
Even when coach Bobbie Awa’s powerhouse seized the school’s first state title in 2004 against Kahuku 51-41, depth has never been a surplus.
They Wildcats may never have a deep bench as a luxury, but at least they have the next best thing going — armed with state experience.
That helps a great deal because Awa’s Wildcats, no matter the year, understand how to play state basketball, beating the taller teams, especially those from Oahu, at their own game.
The ’Cats have top-shelf team chemistry, a reason for their effortless ball-sharing, which leads to high-percentage shots.
But the team chemistry helps in two other major departments at the state level: ball-control and rebounding.
In each game, the Wildcats were better at both, despite being undersized and not blessed with reinforcements.
Against Maryknoll, Kona won the turnover battle, 4-8, and rebounding contest, 25-20.
In a 63-25 semifinal win against Kaiser, it went 10-25 on giveaways and 30-26 on the boards.
In a 51-27 quarterfinal win over Punahou, it went 7-15 on turnovers and 29-25 in rebounds.
If there was any stat that was the most shocking at the state tournament, it was the Wildcats outrebounding the much taller Buffanblu.
Chanelle Molina had a game-high 11 rebounds. When Washington State issued a press release about her signing, she was listed at 5 feet 9. She’s not.
She’s 5-7 but plays much bigger and doesn’t get bothered if someone towers over her. Punahou’s Tyra Moe and Vonica Malufau are 6-1 and 6-0 and grabbed four and six boards, respectively. Somehow, Molina outrebounded both of them.
Molina debunked the theory that size is the most important thing in cleaning the glass. Positioning and determination are far more important, and Molina has a surplus in the latter.
When teams rebound, especially on the defensive end, that eliminates easy putbacks and points for the opposition.
The value of ball-control is the same thing. Turnovers always lead to extra opportunities or, more painful, easy points with transition layups.
Basically, the ’Cats don’t beat themselves.
The Wildcats do three things really well on the technical side: ball-sharing, ball-control and rebound.
Awa also gets her team to do three fundamental things really well: play as a team, play hard and play smart.
The last one is easy to explain. The disciplined Wildcats rarely foul out. Against Maryknoll, no one picked up five fouls.
The first one is the toughest for coaches. Cars won’t move if there’s a missing tire. But Awa gets the buy-in, and her Wildcats keep winning.
Sorry, Lunas
Last season, Konawaena edged a talented Lahainaluna squad 51-41 for the state championship, relegating the Lunas to runner-up for the second straight year.
Chanelle Molina torched the Lunas with 27 points on 11 of 17 shooting. But a nice sidebar to her golden accomplishment was the play of former Lahainaluna players Aloha Salem and sisters Lindsay and Taylor Bates, who all transferred to Konawaena.
Neither scored, but they all played 11, 21 and 10 minutes, respectively. So the three got to share the exhilaration of a state championship, their first.
On Thursday, Maryknoll upset No. 2 Lahainaluna 63-61 on a last-second shot.
The Wildcats will be a favorite to win a third straight state title, even with the loss of Molina and Victor.
Two annual state title contenders will be depleted by graduation.
Punahou loses its two bigs Moe and Malufau while Lahainaluna says goodbye to their three best players in seniors Fa-Ko-Fiemea (14 points against Maryknoll), Kealeah-Aiko Koloi (23 points) and Cameron Fernandez (16 points), who’ll join Molina at Wazzu.
It would have been a gigantic matchup if the Lunas survived against the Spartans and faced the Wildcats for a third time in the state championship.
The winner of that hypothetical game can be debated at water coolers.
The Spartans will be dangerous because they lose only one starter and the rest are just sophomores.
BIIF landscape
One of Konawaena’s biggest opponent will be its depth. It’s always a grind to be focused and mindful of not getting into foul trouble.
It also goes without saying that the Wildcats will have a bull’s-eye on their backs. It’ll be everyone’s championship week when they face a different-looking Kona team next season.
BIIF runner-up Hilo loses four key starters in Lexi Pana, Sharlei Graham-Bernisto, Shalyn Guthier and Katie Loeak.
Honokaa, which fell to the Vikings 48-28 in the BIIF semifinals, loses three pivotal seniors in Kizzah Maltezo, Uluwehi Cordero and Markell Marquez.
Waiakea, which lost to the ’Cats 60-19 in the BIIF semis, loses one senior starter in Elyse Hasegawa.
But the Warriors last went to states in 2012 and last won a BIIF title in 2008.
Of course, everyone in the league knows what 2009 is all about. It was the first of Konawaena’s eight consecutive BIIF championships.
Don’t forget the league record 92-0 winning streak and the long list of state crowns in 2004, ’07, ’09, ’11, ’12, ’15 and 2016 and title of the greatest program in BIIF history.
