Girls basketball

Pualei Straight has seen the highs and the lows — mostly highs — from the wondrous athletic facility on Kapalama Heights. She has seen the glory of years past while playing guard for Kamehameha. All of that, along with being the child of a coach (Dave Furtado), built the foundation for everything in the Warriors’ vision — and grasp. Three seasons ago, the Warriors reached the state championship game, losing a thriller to ‘Iolani, 52-49. One year later, just before […]

Jovi Lefotu is over it, way over it. The cancellation of the 2020-21 basketball season was enough to break anyone’s heart, but Lefotu and her ‘Iolani teammates — the two-time defending state champions — worked through it. Wearing goggles. Sanitizing. The works. The Raiders played a home-and-home exhibition series with Kamehameha, and that was all she wrote for one of the best girls basketball teams in Hawaii history. Suddenly, Lefotu is now a senior. Her sister, Lily Wahinekapu, is gone […]

She’s back at full power. Chanelle Molina amassed 32 points and 10 rebounds as her new team, Södertälje Basketbollklubb (SBBK), in a 77-71 loss to Ostersund Basket. In the Swedish Basketball League season opener against IK EOS, she had 13 points, six rebounds and two assists in an 87-74 loss. Molina, a 5-foot-9 guard, leads Södertälje at 22 points and eight rebounds per game. “My team is filled with shooters. We play small ball, so four guards and one big. […]

The chronology of girls basketball on Maui has seemed to always include Todd Rickard. For now, however, there is a chasm. The longtime Lahainaluna coach stepped down from the post on Wednesday, ending an unprecedented run in Maui Interscholastic League girls basketball. “I talked to them on Tuesday, and the parents,” Rickard said of his Lady Lunas. “They were surprised. I was surprised myself. I didn’t know it would come to this point, but this is the only way I […]

Maui Robins enjoys an ice-cold bottle of Gatorade on a hot day. Now that she is the Gatorade girls volleyball player of the year in Hawaii, the Kamehameha junior outside hitter won’t look at the globally-branded sports drink the same way. “I like glacier freeze (flavor). It’s the light blue one,” the junior said. The honor had Robins searching for words at first, but she is growing more comfortable with acclaim. “I feel good. I think that, I don’t know, […]

If timing is everything, it just wasn’t the right time for Chanelle Molina. The Indiana Fever waived the former Konawaena and Washington State standout on Monday, ending her brief time with the WNBA franchise. An ankle injury derailed her attempt to make the Fever roster. Molina was in a training camp contract, still not 100 percent after injuring her right ankle during the Swedish Basketball League season. Then she reinjured the ankle last week during a Fever workout. With the […]

The ups and downs of professional basketball have never been more real for former Konawaena and Washington State standout Chanelle Molina. Molina reinjured her right ankle during a team workout on Monday. Now, her plan to compete for a roster spot with the Indiana Fever is on hold. “I won’t be able to continue to train for the rest of camp,” Molina said on Monday morning. “I’m disappointed and frustrated, but I will come out stronger than ever.” Molina is […]