June Daugherty lands 2016 five-star recruit Chanelle Molina

The 2015-2016 Washington State Cougars women's basketball team will face some adversity this season. For starters, the team lost it's top two leading scorers in Tia Presley (graduation) and Lia Galdeira (forgone senior season) and will have to replace their production on what is an extremely young roster. With the competition so fierce in the Pac-12, a third consecutive post-season berth seems like a reach for this youthful team.

This season will be a growth year for the squad, but head coach June Daugherty landed an impressive verbal commitment earlier this week when class of 2016 point guard Chanelle Molina out of Konawaena High School in Hawaii gave her word to the program.

What makes her verbal even more interesting is that Molina is a five-star recruit, according to ESPN.com. Five-star athletes don't come through Pullman very often in any sport; landing one is huge for the Cougars as they hope to grow into a conference championship contender.

It's no secret throughout the WSU athletics program that the Hawaiian Islands are a hotbed for recruiting. Konawaena High School just so happens to be the former high school of the recently departed Galdeira and senior Dawnyelle Awa, a connection that had to play in Molina's decision to go crimson, as she held offers from Oregon State, Oregon, and Arizona State. Awa's mother Bobbie is the head coach at Konawaena, so you'd have to think she was pulling for Molina to end up in Pullman to take over the point guard position from her daughter once Dawnyelle graudates next spring.

The Cougar women will have to figure out their identity this upcoming season, but landing a five-star recruit should certainly play dividends for the growth of the the team as they try to bring home a Pac-12 championship in the future.

And she wasn't the only commit from Hawaii!

Women's Basketball

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Football

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