Konawaena players celebrate after winning their second straight Division I title with a 44-34 win over Maryknoll. Greg Yamamoto | SL

Purchase image 1 of 1

Fri, Feb 12, 2016 @ Stan Sheriff

---

Maryknoll

34

Konawaena

44

Final	1	2	3	4
Maryknoll (13-2, 23-3)	11	11	5	7	34
Konawaena (12-0, 26-1)	15	6	9	14	44

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

C. Molina 24 pts  8/9 FTs

R. Omori 9 pts  1 3pm  2/3 FTs

C. Molina 8 tot  4 off  4 def

K. Kamakawiwoole 4 tot  4 def

C. Molina 3 ast

C. Milne 3 ast

MANOA — In the final game of her decorated prep career, Chanelle Molina made sure her Konawaena girls basketball team was going out on top.

Molina scored 17 of her game-high 24 points after halftime to power top-ranked Konawaena to its second straight Division I state championship with a 44-34 win over third-ranked Maryknoll Friday night.

The Wildcats, the top seed in the 12-team tournament, rallied from being down as many as five points, to complete a perfect 15-0 season. A crowd of 1,543 fans at the Stan Sheriff Center was on hand to witness the seventh state title in school history — all of them coming under longtime coach Bobbie Awa.

"Every championship is special," Awa said. "It feels different all the time. It's great. I feel good. I'm happy for my seniors, but every (championship) is special. Every game is different, the way they've got to play is different, so I'm just very happy for these girls."

Konawaena, which has been ranked atop the ScoringLive/Hawaiian Electric Girls Basketball Power Rankings all season, saw each of its starting five play all 32 minutes.

Molina, who has signed to play at Washington State next year and is a two-time All-Hawaii Division I Player of the Year, shot 8 of 9 on 2-point field goals with six rebounds and three assists. She made 8 of her 9 attempts from the free-throw line and was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player.

"I knew this was my last game so I played my heart out, they all played their hearts out for us seniors in our last game, so we just had to dig down deep this game and just give it all we got," said Molina, who was the only player in the game to score in double figures.

The Wildcats led 15-11 after the first quarter, but were outscored by the Spartans 11-6 in the second and trailed by a point at halftime.

Maryknoll opened the second quarter on a 9-0 run that led to its largest lead of the game at 20-15 following Chayse Milne's layup with 5:15 left in the half.

Molina had seven points by the end of the first quarter, but was held scoreless in the second quarter. The third stanza, however, is when she took over.

Molina scored all nine of Konawaena's points in the third quarter.

"Our coaches just told us at halftime to play smarter defense and learn when to go and when not to go, so we just had to be aware of the scoreboard," Molina said. "If we were up we weren't going to go up and harass the defense; We just sit back and let them do their thing and read off of that."

Kodee Viena knocked down a corner triple — one of two she made in the game — that stretched Maryknoll's lead to 25-21 early in the third quarter.

Molina got her team within a bucket after she made a layup off an assist from Ihi Victor. Two possessions later, Molina converted a three-point play to give the Wildcats the lead for good at 26-25.

The Spartans trailed 30-27 after three quarters, but got within a point at 33-32 after Kamalu Kamakawiwoole hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 3:15 remaining. However, it was the closest they would get.

Konawaena sealed it at the free-throw line, where it made 10 of its final 11 attempts. It was 14 of 17 on free throws for the game.

The Wildcats outscored the Spartans in the second half, 23 to 12.

"Our defense was just amazing tonight," Awa said. "It wasn't just amazing tonight, it's been amazing all year. The defense has got us here all year and they did a good job again tonight."

It was Maryknoll's lowest scoring output of the season, but much of that was by design.

"I thought we had the right game plan to cut down the possessions and keep the game close," Spartans coach Chico Furtado said. "For the most part, I thought we did that, but offensively we kind of hit a stalemate. We only had 12 points in the second half and a lot of that was kind of because we were slicing the game down some — which I didn't think was a bad idea — but we had some turnovers and we had some chances at the some putbacks that didn't go and that's the way it goes sometimes."

Rhianne Omori scored nine points, Viena eight and Milne seven to lead the Spartans, who won their second straight Interscholastic League of Honolulu title this year and finished with a 15-3 record.

"It's not a great consolation to lose, but for our first time getting here with the youngsters we've got, playing against a veteran team like that right down to the wire, I'm nothing but proud of my team," Furtado said.

Maryknoll, which improved upon a third-place finish from a year ago, was making its first appearance in a state final since 1987, when it lost to Iolani. It won the inaugural state tournament in 1977 and again in 1978.

It was the 10th time reaching the title game for Konawaena, which is now 38-15 all-time in 18 state tournament appearances.