Team Stingrays finished in fifth place out of a field of 256 teams today at the End of the Trail Tournament in Oregon City, Ore.
It was a solid performance for the Big Island squad comprised largely of players who powered Konawaena to a state championship in girls basketball last February — and coached by Bobbie Awa and staff. Chanelle Molina, the all-state player of the year, got through the tournament this week despite ankle and (shooting) hand injuries.
Molina, along with all-state sisters Celena Jane and Cherilyn, received a scholarship offer from Washington State. The Cougars recently lost former Konawaena and all-state POY Lia Galdeira, who announced her intention to turn pro and forego her senior season.
Washington State is not the first Division I school to offer all three sisters. Hawaii made offers to all three earlier in the year.
Chanelle Molina, who will be a senior this fall, has more than 10 offers, according to her mother, Rose. Celena Jane Molina, like Chanelle, is also one of the state’s top volleyball players.
Cherilyn, who will be a sophomore, also has a basketball scholarship offer from Montana State.
Are you going to inform the public about all the other clubs that are traveling too? 808 Basketball Club; Kalakaua Basketball Club; OTB; Opencourt; Boom; Lahainaluna? Some Maui girls are getting interest from more established top 25 programs than just lower tier teams in the Pac-12. It would be nice to feature many of the teams and different players instead of the same Big Island Girls all the time.
Why are you hating on this girls? he is not leaving out the other Hawaii Clubs just congratulating them Stingrays for placing 5th in this tournament & getting awarded for it as you can see in the picture. Why would you say WSU is a lower tier team?? You need to really watch what you say because WSU is a great school. As long as a University is offering a scholarship, does it matter what school offers? Isn’t education much more important. These ladies just won states and is showcasing their talents in the mainland while representing Hawaii. I mean why not praise them? They obviously did a splendid job. Its rare for Hawaii girls to be recognized in the basketball world and these ladies are making it big. These ladies are an inspiration and for them to be recognized and to inspire other people is truly amazing. Stop hating on your locals and show a little bit more pride.
Excuse me, but please check both athletics and academics, WSU is a lower tier school in the Pac-12. That is a fact. You can look at Forbes or US World Cities for academic rankings. As for sports, WSU hasn’t made the NCAA’s have they like many of their PAC-12 counterparts. I am not saying they shouldn’t be praised. But there are way more clubs out there. Don’t you agree? And why aren’t they paying in the higher level tournaments like some of the other clubs? As for being rare for being recognized? Um, they are talked about quite a lot in this paper. I could understand if this was the LA Time then your comment would warrant merit.
Ooops someone’s jealous, why don’t you read ESPN.COM written an incredible article about them. As for WSU you must not be a fan of theirs, as long as their good schools why would it matter. Why would they need to play in the higher tournaments when their already getting recognized by several schools, please respect them & stop hating, BE PROUD for what they’ve accomplished..
Here’s the website FYI:
http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/13225528/three-win
There seems to be some mis-guided reporting here. Who was the source for this article?
The EOT did have about 256 teams in the tournament which are separated into 4 brackets. The Stingrays came in fifth in their bracket, not overall. So to claim they were fifth out of 256 teams is not correct. They still did well though as did all the Hawaii teams.
http://www.eotbasketball.com/eotbracket.htm
All Hawaiians have been, are, and aspire to be world ambassadors of aloha, even to WSU. The Hawaii-WSU connection goes back generations in athletics, academics and scholars. The opportunity for 808 lady scholar/athletes to compete at the PAC 12 level is a unique honor. May their life journey make all Hawaiians proud. A WSU alum.
I am jealous because some kids are going to WSU? My two kids graduated from Berkeley, one with her JD and the other with his PhD. I don’t think I am that jealous. Nice story though.
Hopefully she does not follow the path of Galdeira who we all know why she is skipping her senior season. A little tragic. At least she is pulling a 3.57 so hopefully she will do better at college.
Too bad the Melina sisters didn’t play with other local clubs that played in higher level tourneys. Maybe she would have caught the eye of Duke, UConn, or Notre Dame.
The Oregon End of the Trail is an average tourney at best for girls. The top coaches and team participate at the Nike Nationals in Chicago.
Looking at the tourney, the Lady Stingray competed in the Gold Division. That is the 3rd level division behind the Platinum and Diamond. There are 32 teams in each of these 3 brackets. Since the Stingray came in 5th in the Gold Division, there are 68 teams that placed better. Therefore they placed 69/256.
Kalakaua Wahine which played in the Platinum Division placed somewhere in the range of 7-10 in their higher level Platinum Division which would rank them around 39/256 or about 25-30 slots higher than the Stingray.
I agree with Left Field that there has been inaccurate reporting here. I can understand if the story was about Molina being offered. But it starts with Stingray being 5th out of 256 which clearly they are not. I wonder why it wasn’t reported that Kalakaua another local team wasn’t even mentioned when they played in a higher division and they too are from Hawaii. And some of their girls have been offered too I heard.
Looks like a lot of inaccurate reporting here. Kalakaua Wahine played in the higher Platinum Division but no mention of them here. They placed higher, competed in the more elite division, and did relatively well. Yet no mention of them? The Stingray play in the weaker division, do ok, and there’s a story on it? Seems very interesting. If Left Field could find the results this easily, I would think sports writers would have more access to information making it easier to report stories accurately.
misguided frustration? How sad, you should be ashamed of yourself. To say anything negative about such a positive program, is ridiculous. Regardless of your opinion on the quality of any school, you shouldnt be criticising our youth. Rod Wong said it right, this is a unique opportunity and we should be proud of any recognition for any of our youth. Congratulations on your childrens accomplishments & yes we too are proud of them. As for weaker division, 808, Kalakaua & Stingrays played all in Division1 bracket, so NO weaker bracket. As for playing for other Clubs they did play for Team Aloha & did well in Arizona. 8080Fan it might not be jealousy, but hatred towards Stingrays/Konawaena program because now you are bringing in Lia Galdeira. Makes everyone wonder which program your coming from? I will definitely apologize to the family of the Molina, Galdeira & Stingrays on your behalf for the way your bashing & criticizing their children. As long as their doing well all the negativity coming from you really does not matter.We are So proud of all of them & all the other clubs out there. .
So much negativity over such a positive article. 808 Fan, your arrogance is insulting. And your lack of of facts baffles me. I am a resident of Oahu, but have family on the big island. The big island lack many opportunities and resources that we on Oahu or Maui may have. And I have followed these Molina girls through out their journey. If you have done your research you would know that the eldest Molina girl along with her siblings have played in many tournaments, brackets, divisions, against all types of competition. Despite the size or experience of the team they played on, they demonstrate skill, drive, determination and good sportsmanship all while maintaining humble. For someone who plays volleyball, basketball, and track in high school along with her outside club sports and still maintains a good GPA, I believe all recognition is warranted and more than deserved. Do your homework before making such an ignorant statement. If you have read up on them you would know these girls come from a hard working family. Things aren’t just handed to them. Its earned. Rod Wong and bballfan I agree. We should be proud. Make Hawaii proud!
I am sorry bball fan but the brackets are weaker and stronger. The diamond are for the top level teams and it trickles down to platinum, gold, etc. Please report the correct facts. You can talk to any of the tourney directors. When invites are sent out and teams register, it is made very clear that each bracket is based on strength of the club. The Oregon Trail select which teams can play where. They placed the Stingray in the Gold and Kalakaua in the Platinum because the committee feels that Kalakaua generally has a stronger club team year in and out.
Arizona isn’t really a top level tourney either. The top tourneys right now are the Nike Nationals in Chicago and the Nike Oasis in Phoenix.
As for Galdeira, it seems WSU really failed her.
This is a sports forum. Intelligent and Critical readers and posters should post both positive and negative feedback. Anything less is irresponsible.
@ladyballer808 did the Molina’s play in the Nike Nationals in Chicago? And having a 3.0 or 3.5 at Konawaena isn’t really setting the academics on fire. As we all know, Konawaena often struggles in the state assessment for the DOE. Please get your facts correct. Who really cares if they are playing in second and third tier tourneys. When they play in the Nike Nationals at Chicago, then let’s talk. As you can tell I did do my homework. It is your subjective writing and opinions that needs to hit the google button more often.
I have been doing this for a long time. All club coaches who travel hopefully have one thing in mind….to get their players seen by college coaches who hopefully will offer scholarships to their players. College coaches of all levels, D-1 (major and mid-major), D-2, D-3, NAIA, and JUCO’s all attend the major tournaments. EOT, Seattle, Anaheim, Chicago, etc. are all attended by the colleges that most Hawaii girls will be recruited by.
At EOT, all the D-1 brackets were the same level. Kalakaua, 808, and Stingrays were all in equally strong brackets. All coaches around the country respect the EOT and Seattle as tough tournaments. They also know that travel costs to Chicago prohibit some clubs from going there. You DO NOT have to go to the Nationals to impress coaches. Top-level programs like NW Blazers, Tree of Hope, Team Concept, Cal Stars Nike, etc. all play at EOT and there is nothing wrong with that. Playing in Chicago in Pool play does not guarantee you much more than playing in EOT or Seattle.
At Arizona, Team Aloha lost to Candace Parker GBL by 3 points, a team whose entire starting 5 and several bench players were all D-1 players. There were 25 coaches from all levels watching that game. Six of the Team Aloha kids received D-1 offers from that tournament.
Coach Agena, Coach Hinano, Coach Taylor, Coach Awa, Coach Rickard and all the other coaches who travel do a great job. Please just congratulate them and let this issue rest already. Thanks.
afan & 808fan, you both are just not getting over what bracket or higher, lower, nike nationals, etc. I think the clubs who went to Oregon would rather have a 5win 1loss record than a club who went to nike nationals & have a record of 4loss 1win. I have figured out which club you are from & your such a coward hiding behind your name. Why don’t you just say who you are when it comes to criticizing their kids who has offers from several school & by the way what offers has those club that have traveled to Nike Nationals & Chicago??? Since you have such an obsession for the Molina’s & Stingrays You need to google more often & do more reasearch. Not gonna put any clubs down, but this 808fan really is a hater for Stingrays. As for GPA get over yourself & just accept the fact that success is happening to others & your not happy that it’s not the one you want it to happen to. The more you put them down, the more they prove you wrong & become more successful.
BBall fan are you that ignorant? Do you know which brackets the coaches are watching? Have you ever traveled and experienced one of these tourneys?
You are the kid who would rather win a D3 intermediate title going 14-0 than playing with the big boys (or big girls) playing against the best.
Is that what you teach your team or children? Let’s not compete against the best? Let’s play the weaker teams so we can pad our stats and make our record get better. I will help explain this to you since basketball is obviously a little to savvy and quick for you.
1) The coaches tend to spend more time watching the higher level brackets. They cannot be at every game since there are conflicts since many games are played at the same time on different courts. The courts are spread out.
2) As for offers from the Nike Nationals, I was told that Fernandez who accepted to WSU, had the same Pac-12 offers that Molina had.
3) Hafoka who had only D2 offers at the time playing for Lahainaluna, now is setting up her 5 visits at some Pac12 schools and some other mid major schools. These are schools that did not offer her prior to playing at Nike Nationals
4) 2 other players from Coach Taylor’s club team who were not offered when playing for another club in Oregon and Anaheim before, have now been offered scholarships to high academic D3 schools. These are two girls that didn’t get any offers.
So in conclusion, it seems pretty good that 4 out of the 8 or 9 girls on the teams got offers and 2 of the girls that didn’t get offers yet didn’t play due to injury. So realistically 4/6 got offers and the other 2 who didn’t yet are not juniors so have like 1-2 more years to get noticed.
Would you say that clubs going to these other tourneys have such a high percentage rate of getting college offers?
Please learn about the subject before you write because you are showing yourself to be ignorant, uninformed, and a fool.
808Fan haha!!! You just described yourself as being ignorant, uninformed & a fool. I feel sorry for you on really believing what you write & having to justify yourself. Congratulations to those that got offers & PEACE be with you, lol..
bballfan, I think your mom needs to use the computer now. Please get off it, it’s bed time.
808fan here something more for you to read, Enjoy the article:
http://washington.247sports.com/Article/5-Star-Wazzu-PG-Commit-Chanelle-Molina-Ready-to-be-a-Coug–38321069
I am sorry to say, while respected, it not held in the same regard as the Nike Nationals in Chicago. Chicago is the top spot. Only certain teams are invited. All the Top 25 coaches attend the Nike’s in Chicago. While these same top 25 colleges may send some assistants to Oregon & Seattle, most head coaches from prominent Top 25 D1 colleges go to Chicago. This has nothing to do with finances. It has to do with invites. You cannot just attend because you feel like challenging yourself.
The Nike Nationals is, no doubt, a premier tournament. I believe there to be little debate as to the quality of teams that are at that tournament and the level of college coaches that are there.
Unfortunately, there are only a small handful of Hawaii players who would benefit from investing the money to travel to Chicago. Of the thousands of girls in high school basketball in Hawaii, how many are top 25 talent? For them, playing in front of top 25 coaches, whether head coaches or assistants, is a moot point. Many would be better served playing at the EOT or MSNM and in front of a division 2, 3 or NAIA team that they would better fit with and given the opportunity to continue their education.
Bottom line, I would love for my daughter to play for a coach who will take her to a tournament to play in front of the most elite of coaches in the country. But, if she is a TOP division TWO prospect, where would my money be better spent?
Just to set the record straight for everyone. The Nike Nationals is not in Chicago, The Nike Nationals is in South Carolina. The Nike National Invitational is in Chicago. The difference being the The Nike Nationals is for the best of the best Elite club basketball teams in the USA. Teams such as Kentucky Premier, Cal Stars Elite, Etc. The Nike National Invitational is where the Cal Storm Hawaii team played as well as the Islanderz. Kalakaua, 808, and Stingrays could have played there but chose not to. Like Left field said playing there will not benefit our girls unless they are elite level players or prospects that could go to UCONN, Louisville, and Notre Dame etc. The west coast better suits our girls eventually someday one of our girls will make it there but for now playing in the EOT and MSNM is better for them. Most of our girls play on the west coast and it is easier for family and friends to come and see them. Just FYI the Cal Stars Nike Elite who are one of the top clubs in the USA ranking between #1 thru #5 in the 3 sports publications. So again the Nike National Invitational is in Chicago and the Nike Nationals is in South Carolina this week July 28-30.
PPC, please correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t Steve Kozaki run these tournaments for Nike? After talking to him several weeks ago, he told me the only invite to a Hawaii Based team was to the Hawaii Storm that is an affiliate of the California Storm. He did not invite Kalakaua, 808, or the Stingrays. And based on the information below, the Islanders didn’t play either.
Here is a list of the teams who played: http://www.niketournamentofchampions.com/events/participating.cfm?id=63
Nike Fan, I don’t know who Steve Kozaki but you are right the Islanderz did not play in this tournament. I was trying look up the qualifications of who gets invited but as you said the Storm was the only Hawaii team invited based possibly based on their affiliation with the Cal Storm club. Looking at the list I saw some of the teams from the EOT like the ECBA Swish Black and Oregon Elite Navy. Do you know what qualifies a team or what criteria they must meet to be invited? It would be great to watch the Hawaii girls basketball clubs go at it if Hawaii is only given 1 slot. The clubs being the Storm, Stingrays, 808, and Kalakaua.
PPC, wouldn’t that be a fun idea, having some of these clubs play for the one invite. Whatever the outcome, I would still think that more of the local players would be better served playing in front of the coaches at the EOT or MSNM. Aside from the Stingrays, I heard that 808 had a pretty successful summer as did Kalakaua.
Around the state (Maui, BI too), there are tons of talent that would probably contribute at the small D1, D2, D3, NAIA or JUCO levels. Any word if any other players are getting looked at or offered?
Left Field,
I believe the following girls may be looking at offers. Stingrays-Celina, Ihi, and Cherilyn. 808-Keala, Tyra, Vae. Kalakaua-Kamaile. There are a lot of underclassmen from all these clubs that may be getting some looks too but we we will know for sure next year. BTW Remember what I said about the Cal Stars Nike Elite playing and winning the EOT open and all-star divisions. Well they are the 2015 Nike Nationals Champions. They won their last 3 games including the championship by an average of 30 points in South Carolina yesterday. These girls are for real! 3 girls on that team played in Hawaii last year in the Iolani Girls Classic. They are Sabrina Ionescu (Miramonte), Kat Tudor (St. Marys) and Aquira Decosta (St. Marys). Ionescu is the top rated guard in her class of 2016 and Decosta is the #1 player in her class of 2018.