Considered best Wahine basketball player ever

Dedication, dependability and dominance defined the career of Judy Mosley-McAfee.

The most decorated player in Hawaii women’s basketball history obliterated records the same way she demolished opponents down low — without flash, but with regularity.

Mosley-McAfee died Monday in her native California after a three-year battle with cancer. She was 45.

She was Judy Mosley during her career from 1986 to 1990, when she carried the Rainbow Wahine to their first two NCAA tournament appearances and was a regional All-American twice.

News of the UH Sports Circle of Honor inductee’s death saddened and shocked the local women’s basketball community on Tuesday soon after Mosley’s niece, former Wahine player Julia (Washington) McIver notified UH.

Mosley is survived by her four children and husband, Marvin McAfee, and 10 siblings.

"She was a great human being. She was taken away from us too soon, obviously," said McIver, who was inspired to follow in her aunt’s large footsteps to the islands. "It was a shock. I know that she had a great experience in Hawaii. … She said living there and being on the team and playing ball in Hawaii was one of the highlights of her life."

Mosley is in her own stratosphere in the Wahine record books; she owns the career scoring (2,479) and rebounding (1,441) marks as well as career averages (21.7 ppg and 12.6 rpg).

She was the epitome of dependability for her coach, Vince Goo, who considers the 6-foot-1 forward the most dominant basketball player to pass through UH — including the men’s team. That despite regularly going up against post players in the 6-3/6-4 range; she had a sixth sense for caroms and a solid mid-range jumper.

"You knew she was going to get 20 points and double-digit rebounds," Goo said. "That’s a given. Even on a bad night … you could count on her."

She amassed 71 20-point games and 19 of 30-plus. Her 46 points at Pacific in 1989 still stands as the school record.

It wasn’t immediately apparent that greatness was Mosley’s destiny when she arrived out of La Puente (Calif.) High School as then-head coach Bill Nepfel’s recruit.

"I said, ‘Oh, wow. This is a project.’" said Goo, then an assistant.

But there was something else about her. She would put in extra hours, before and after practice, unbidden and unrelenting.

"She had this work ethic, unbelievable. And she just came such a long way," said Goo, who noted she could not make a left-handed layup when she arrived. "Whatever she did in the record books was all because of her hard work."

Mosley was instrumental in UH’s first NCAA win, an 83-78 decision on March 14, 1990 at Montana, and in the Wahine cracking the AP rankings for the first time that season — as high as No. 12 at one point. That year, she was Big West co-MVP and won gold at the World University Games.

She played in Europe for seven years after her UH career, then was taken by the Sacramento Monarchs with the sixth pick in the WNBA’s 1997 draft. Mosley played 12 WNBA games that year and would play internationally for two more years. She is one of two UH alumnae to play in the WNBA (Amy Sanders is the other).

After her basketball career, she taught and coached at several high schools, including her alma mater, La Puente. She did that up until about a year ago, McIver said, and was working on her Ph.D.

Current UH coach Laura Beeman knows Mosley by reputation and wants to do her part to honor her during the upcoming season. Uniform patches and game captaincy were mentioned as possibilities.

"I know she had a huge impact on this university and the state of Hawaii in what she did for women’s basketball," Beeman said. "And to ever, ever have a loss of life due to cancer at such a young age, leaving behind a husband and four kids, is just heart-wrenching."

Services are pending.