Konawaena senior guard Cherilyn Molina is the Gatorade Hawaii girls basketball player of the year for the second year in a row, the Gatorade Company announced Monday.
The award recognizes outstanding athletic excellence, high standards of academic achievement and exemplary character demonstrated on and off the court.
Molina led the Wildcats to a 26-2 record and their fourth consecutive Division I state championship in the recently completed season. She averaged 16.1 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 3.5 steals and one block per game. She was also the BIIF player of the year for the second straight year and she is rated as the No. 28 point guard in the Class of 2018 by espnW, according to the Gatorade news release.
She also was named the Star-Advertiser All-State player of the year for the second straight season.
Molina has volunteered locally as a youth basketball coach and has donated her time visiting elementary schools to help students with their reading and various academic projects.
“She’s a special player, that’s for sure,” Lahainaluna coach Todd Rickard said in a press release. “What she lacks in size, she definitely makes up for in court awareness, ball-handling skills, shooting, leadership on the court. Just an all-around great player.”
Molina has maintained a weighted 3.57 grade-point average and has signed a national letter of intent to play in the fall at Washington State, where her sisters Chanelle Molina and Celena Molina also play.
Chanelle Molina won the Gatorade Hawaii award in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
It’s been 10 years since a player from Oahu has won the Gatorade Hawaii girls basketball award — ‘Iolani’s Jamie Smith in 2008.
Recent Hawaii Gatorade girls basketball player of the year award winners
>> 2018: Cherilyn Molina, Konawaena
>> 2017: Cherilyn Molina, Konawaena
>> 2016: Chanelle Molina, Konawaena
>> 2015: Chanelle Molina, Konawaena
>> 2014: Aliyah Pana, Hilo
>> 2013: Dawnyelle Awa, Konawaena
>> 2011: Maiki Viela, Lahainaluna
>> 2010: Maiki Viela, Lahainaluna
>> 2009: Kanisha Bello, Waiakea
>> 2008: Jamie Smith, ‘Iolani
>> 2007: Shawna-Lei Kuehu, Punahou
To bad coach Beeman couldn’t get even one of the Molina’s. That’s going to be 5 girls out of Konawaena going to Washington State.