Konawaena's Chanelle Molina handled point guard duties for most of the night to score a season-high 27 points in the state title game against the Lahainaluna. Brien Ing | SL

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Konawaena's Chanelle Molina handled point guard duties for most of the night to score a season-high 27 points in the state title game against the Lahainaluna. Brien Ing | SL

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Chanelle Molina delivered her greatest performance of the year on the biggest stage.

She scored a season-high 27 points on 11-for-17 shooting to help Konawaena claim its sixth state title with a 51-41 win over Lahainaluna in the Division I championship game.

The junior guard was the star of the show Friday night. Handling point guard duties for most of the game, Molina was a maestro with the ball in her hands. Like a quarterback running a no-huddle offense, Molina confounded the Lahainaluna defense.

Although Molina scored the first basket of the game, the Lunas jumped out to an early 8-4 lead thanks to a pair of triples from Fiamea Hafoka and Cameron Fernandez.

Konawaena trimmed the lead down to one, 10-9 on Molina's full court pass to sophomore sister Celena on the break and regained the lead on a horns play engineered by Molina. The Wildcats push their lead to three with Molina going coast-to-coast and finishing with a euro step in the lane. 

The lead would fluctuate throughout the next two quarters before Molina scored the final four points of the third stanza. Molina secured the lead for good, 39-38 when she drove from the top of the key to the left wing, split two defenders and finished over shot blocker Keleah-Aiko Koloi. Her final points of the quarter came on an isolation play where she hop-stepped right into the middle of the Lunas' defense. 

"It's all about reading the defense," Molina said. "If they look tired, just keep attacking them. If they come up on you to try and press, just drive to the basket." 

To say Molina did it on her own wouldn't be fair though. Junior post Ihi Victor, one of the veterans of the team, also played a big role. Victor finished with 14 points, six of which came during a critical second quarter stretch with Molina sitting with two fouls. 

"She stepped up big time," Molina said on Victor. "She knew that she could take her man to the basket so she just kept attacking. She just had that aggressive mindset and I'm really proud of her." 

The championship was also the second state title that Molina and her two sisters, Celena and Cherilyn, won together. They won the 2014 Division II Girls Volleyball title back in November.

What makes this title so special is that the three Molina sisters, and the rest of the team, dedicated the rest of the season in honor of the Molina's grandmother, who lost her battle with cancer in late January. 

I thought it was uncanny that the three sisters each connected on jumpers during a key third quarter stretch when Lahainaluna had its largest lead of the game, 30-25.

A pick-and-pop play between Chanelle and Celena Molina allowed the middle Molina sister to nail a triple from the top of the key. Freshman Cherilyn Molina, who will probably have to endure the moniker "Baby Mo" another year, later tied the game up on a left wing jumper that was slightly inside the 3-point arc. After a runner in the lane by Hafoka, Chanelle Molina gave Konawaena its first lead of the second half with a college-range trey from the right wing.

"For my first time winning (basketball) states, I'm glad I could win it with them," Molina said on winning with her sisters. "It's all family. We did it all for my grandma. For them to be my side for my first state championship in basketball is amazing."