For the third time in its past five games, the Hawaii women’s basketball team took a run at a nationally ranked opponent.

For the third time, the Rainbow Wahine ended the night mulling what might have been while looking to what these experiences could lead to later in the season.

After staying with No. 5 Stanford on Saturday, the Wahine pushed No. 11 North Carolina in Sunday’s finale of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout before falling 74-65 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Shawna-Lei Kuehu returned from a bruised knee to energize the Wahine (4-3), who trailed by eight at halftime. They came out of the locker room cold while falling behind by 13 with 11 minutes left before closing to four. But they couldn’t quite catch the Tar Heels, who fought off the upset bid to improve to 7-0 and secured the tournament title before a Sunday afternoon crowd of 920.

"This one hurts," UH coach Laura Beeman said. "We had some teary-eyed people in that locker room.

"It’s not the loss that makes you hurt in your heart, it’s the fact that we let one get away. For me as a coach, it’s feeling their disappointment, how hard they work. That’s hard, but it’s definitely going to propel us through conference and we’re going to be able to look back on those games and draw from this experience."

UNC guard Allisha Gray led the Tar Heels with 19 points and nine rebounds and tournament MVP Latifah Coleman went 4-for-4 from 3-point range and finished with 16 points. Coleman’s final points came when she banked in a 3 from the top to stall UH’s comeback in the second half.

Kuehu fell a point shy of her career high set against No. 14 California on Nov. 21 with a 28-point effort on Sunday. The senior returned to the starting lineup after missing most of the second half of Saturday’s loss to Stanford and shot 7-for-16 from the field and 14-for-16 from the free-throw line.

Destiny King posted her second double-double of the season with 13 points and 10 rebounds and Ashleigh Karaitiana finished with 11 points.

"A lot of these teams come in and it’s that name on the jersey that speaks volumes," Kuehu said. "So you can either be intimidated by it or you can go at it with everything you’ve got. … Everybody went at them."

North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell, a Hall of Famer in her 29th season with the Tar Heels, came away impressed by No. 21 in white (Kuehu) on Sunday.

"She’s really a great player. … We couldn’t do anything with her," Hatchell said. "She’s tough, she can play anywhere in the country and I’m sure they’re going to build a lot around her, but they’re a very good team."

UH center Connie Morris didn’t suit up for the game and Beeman said she couldn’t comment on the situation that kept her on the bench. Even so, UH outrebounded UNC 39-35 with 20 offensive boards.

Trailing by eight at the break, UH made two of their first 19 shots from the field in the second half. But the Wahine didn’t let the Tar Heels stray too far ahead before making a charge with an 11-3 run in a four-minute stretch, with Kuehu cutting the deficit to 62-58 with a layup with 4:45 left.

But UH would get no closer and finished the game shooting 33 percent from the field and going 3-for-11 from 3-point range.

UNC, which took control with a 12-0 run late in the first half, shot 47 percent and hit eight of 16 attempts from behind the arc.

No. 5 Stanford 88, Prairie View A&M 45

Erica McCall scored a game-high 13 points and the Cardinal (5-2) maintained their hot shooting in a rout of the Lady Panthers (0-5).

NORTH CAROLINA 74, HAWAII 65

TAR HEELS (7-0)

RAINBOW WAHINE (4-3)

Halftime — North Carolina 39, Hawaii 31
3-point goals — UNC 8-16 (Coleman 4-4, Gray 3-4, Cherry 1-3, McDaniel 0-1, Washington 0-2, Rountree 0-2). Hawaii 3-11 (Karaitiana 3-6, King 0-1, Segovia 0-2, Mason 0-2). Steals — UNC 11 (Coleman 3, Butts 2, Mavunga, McDaniel, Rountree, Gray, Cherry, Bryant). Hawaii 7 (Karaitiana 4, Kuehu 3). Turnovers — UNC 19 (Mavunga 4, Gray 4, McDaniel 3, Cherry 3, Butts 2, Coleman, Rountree, team). Hawaii 16 (King 5, Kuehu 3, Karatiana 2, Mason 2, Toeaina 2, Segovia, Harris). Assists — UNC 16 (Cherry 6, Gray 3, Mavunga, McDaniel, Coleman, Rountree, Butts, Washington, Summers). Hawaii 11 (Karaitiana 4, Segovia 2, Kuehu 2, Mason 2, King). Blocked shots — UNC 5 (Mavunga 3, McDaniel 2). Hawaii 2 (Kuehu, Karaitiana). Technical fouls — Stanford none. Hawaii none. Officials — Charles Gonzalez, Erick Thorne, Mason Souza. A — 920.