Chanelle Molina goes in for a layup attempt against South Medford. Molina finished with 26 points to lead all scorers. CJ Caraang | SL

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Fri, Dec 11, 2015 @ Iolani

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South Medford

48

Konawaena

62

Final	1	2	3	4
South Medford	16	18	6	8	48
Konawaena (12-0, 26-1)	20	18	17	7	62

• Points
• Rebounds
• Assists

C. Molina 26 pts  4/5 FTs

J. Tago 13 pts  1 3pm  0/0 FTs

C. Molina 8 tot  5 off  3 def

J. Falls 12 tot  4 off  8 def

C. Molina 5 ast

K. Chamberlin 5 ast

After lighting it up from 3-point land against Mililani, Chanelle Molina showed her skill around the high post in a 62-48 win over South Medford (Medford, Ore.) Friday night.

The two-time ScoringLive All-Hawaii Division I Player of the Year notched her second straight 26-point performance in as many days to lead the Wildcats past the Panthers in the semifinals of the Iolani Girls Prep Classic.

Konawaena, the defending Division I state champions, move on to face Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland, Calif.) on Saturday for top honors in the eight-team tournament. 

Molina, who signed a letter of intent to play for Washington State University, thrived against the Panthers' zone defense and shot at a 52.3 percent clip (11-for-21 from the field) in the win.

"I was in the middle so whenever a bigger girl would pick me up, I would just look for an open shot or take them on one-on-one against the mismatch," said Molina.

The senior guard scored 10 points in the third quarter on 5-for-7 shooting to help turn a 38-34 halftime lead into a 55-40 advantage heading into the final period of play.

"We tried to do some things differently defensively against No. 11 (Molina)," said South Medford coach Tom Cole. "We went from a man to a zone, and in hindsight should have stayed in a man defense. In the first half we played pretty well and in the third quarter we played pretty terrible, which was pretty much the difference." 

When the Panthers did run a man defense, it was University of Hawaii commit Juli Tago that shadowed Molina. Tago finished with 13 points to lead South Medford in the loss. 

"She's a really good player and a defender so it helped me work on my moves," Molina said on Tago.

Joining Molina in double figures was sophomores Cherilyn Molina and Mikayla Tablit, who each had 11 points. The younger Molina pestered the Panthers' guards and denied multiple entry passes into the post while Tablit was able to knock down all of her 3-point opportunities. Junior post Celena Molina added a near double-double of nine points and eight rebounds. 

"That's the thing that's impressive about them, they really know how to play with one another," Cole said on the Wildcats. "They don't get into ruts where one player has to dominate the scoring. They were really balanced which made it very hard to guard."

The Wildcats' contest against the Panthers also gave them an invaluable experience against bigger and lengthier players that they normally don't see while playing in the Big Island Interscholastic Federation. Jasmin Falls and Hannah Washington each had a game-high 12 rebounds for South Medford.

"It taught us just to play smarter because they're bigger," said the eldest Molina. "We just have to learn to play better defense and get in front of them and do a better job of boxing out."

A crowd of 200 people at Iolani's Lower Gymnasium witnessed a back-and-forth battle between the two squads in the opening period, which saw eight lead changes and two ties. Tablit knocked down a triple on her first shot attempt to put Konawaena up, 18-16, and Chanelle Molina scored the final basket of the quarter to make it a four-point game heading into the second.

South Medford tied the game at 22 points apiece on back-to-back treys from Kaulawena Chamberlin to force a Konawaena timeout with 5:56 to play in the first half. Washington had a chance to put the Panthers ahead when she drew the first Konawaena foul of the game, but missed both of her attempts at the free throw line. The Wildcats took the lead for good on their next possesion when Ihi Victor found Tablit for her second trey of the game.

It wasn't until the third quarter when the Wildcats really started to pull away. Molina positioned herself in the middle of the free throw line and went to work against the Panthers' bigs. She was able to pick the right shot depending on the defense or find the open man for a jumper. Her pass to Tablit for a 3-point basket gave the Wildcats their largest lead of the game, 55-40 with 1:07 remaining in the period. 

"We just had to play our tempo," said Tablit. "We didn't play to their tempo, getting flustered and stuff. We just played our game and that's it."

The game between Konawaena and Bishop O'Dowd is slated for 8 p.m., and will be streamed on ScoringLive.com.