The last time Jalen Tanuvasa played high school basketball in Hawaii, she was a sophomore at Maryknoll.
Her family then moved to Las Vegas and she transferred to Faith Lutheran. Over the weekend, the senior combo guard committed to San Jose State.
The former Star-Advertiser All-State Fab 15 selection in the 2018-19 season after averaging 17 points per game for a young Spartans squad. She was voted No. 5 by coaches and media.
Tanuvasa thanked her ohana and basketball family on social media.
“First, I would like to thank Heavenly Father for the many blessings and opportunities in my life. All of this is because of Him and I’m so very thankful. To my parents, who are my biggest fans and No. 1 supporters, I want to thank them for always pushing me and making many sacrifices throughout my basketball journey to get me to where I am today.
“To my older brothers, thank you for not going easy on me and being great examples on and off the court. A big thank you to all of the trainers, coaches and teammates I had for supporting me and teaching me not only basketball, but life lessons that I still carry with me ’til this day. I also want to thank the rest of my family and friends for believing in me and showing their unconditional love.
“Last, but not least, thank you Coach JC and the rest of the coaching staff for giving me this opportunity to become part of their program. With that said, I am blessed to announce my verbal commitment to San Jose State University to continue my academic and basketball career. I am thrilled and extremely excited to become a part of the Spartan family.”
How exciting for the Tanuvasa Ohana. Jalen played last year for Faith Lutheran in Las Vegas. Jalen was voted #6 overall player in her region. Several NCAA D1 colleges showed tons of interest in Jalen ranging from San Jose State, BYU, Oregon State, Portland State, and others. Eventually Jalen settled on San Jose State. Anytime a local kid gets to play college sports we should all rally around that student-athlete and support them.
We really should acknowledge the risk and sacrifices her family made so Jalen could play in Las Vegas. I
I don’t know about everyone else, but I hope her university streams games so my family and I can watch Jalen play next year.
Well played and good luck!