University of Hawaii senior guard/forward Destiny King has been selected to play for the American Samoa national women’s basketball team, which will be competing in the 2015 Pacific Games held in Papua New Guinea from July 3-18.
University of Hawaii senior guard/forward Destiny King has been selected to play for the American Samoa national women’s basketball team, which will be competing in the 2015 Pacific Games held in Papua New Guinea from July 3-18.
King is half-Samoan and her mother, Mona Fa’amausili, was born and raised in American-Samoan. As a junior, King helped lead the Rainbow Wahine to the 2015 Big West regular season. She was the only Hawaii player to start in all 32 games and averaged a career-high 9.6 points and was tied for the team lead with 6.3 rebounds per game while pulling down a team- and career-high 200 rebounds overall. She also recorded 70 assists and a career-high 36 steals while earning all-Big West honorable mention honors.
King will be leaving Honolulu on Wednesday to train with the team in America Samoa until June 30 when the team departs for Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. She will be representing the Big West Conference along with Cal Poly’s Kristen Ale and Long Beach State graduate Tipesa (Moorer) Mercedes .
“I am very excited to play in the Pacific Games with the American Samoa national team,” King said. “I am all about family and I am very blessed to have the opportunity to represent the country where my family was born and raised. It is a huge honor.”
Hawaii head coach Laura Beeman was also excited to see her player get the chance to play for the national team.
“We are so proud that Destiny has been selected to play for the American Samoa basketball team this summer,” Beeman said. “As a staff we could not think of a better student-athlete to exhibit the character and integrity the state of Hawai’i has come to expect from a Rainbow Wahine Basketball player. We wish Destiny safe travels, memories of a lifetime and of course lots of aloha this summer as she opens a new chapter in her life.”
The American Samoa team is in Pool B with Fiji, Guam and New Caledonia. King and her squad will begin pool play against Guam on July 3. Two days later, American Samoa will take on Fiji at 1 p.m. on July 5 followed by a 2 p.m. game vs. New Caledonia on July 6. The seeding rounds will pit teams from Pool A vs. Pool B from July 8-10 before the medal rounds July 11-12.
Twenty-four countries will be competing in 28 sports during the 15th edition of the Pacific Games. The Games started “as an idea to kinder friendship; bringing together the many cultures, ideas and interests of the sovereign nations in the Pacific through a common interest – sport.”