Time is no longer a luxury the Hawaii women’s basketball team can afford.

The spread-out, warm-up portion of the 2011-12 Rainbow Wahine schedule is a thing of the past. Third-year coach Dana Takahara-Dias and her players must learn to adapt quickly starting this weekend when they play three games in three days in the Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic.

It is the first of four such compacted round-robin tournaments at the Stan Sheriff Center in the Wahine’s nonconference season.

UH (1-0), a 60-51 winner over Division II sister school Hawaii-Hilo in its regular-season opener last week, starts the tournament against Portland (1-1) of the West Coast Conference on Friday at 7 p.m.

Things figure to get tougher as the tourney progresses. The Wahine follow against San Diego State (1-0) of the Mountain West on Saturday and No. 18 DePaul (2-0) of the Big East Conference on Sunday.

DePaul averaged 91 points in its two wins to start the season.

"I think our team knows only how to play one game a week, with the luxury of prepping (in between)," Takahara-Dias said. "It’s going to be interesting to see how we perform back-to-back-to-back, only because our opponents are very formidable and very tough."

The good news is UH moved a step closer to full strength this week. Sophomore wing Shawna Kuehu returned to action from a hamstring pull that kept her out of an exhibition and the season opener.

"Should be good to get back on the court again," Kuehu said. "(This weekend) is definitely going to be really tough. I don’t think we could ever get used to (the closely packed games). So the main thing we’re probably going to try to do is take care of our bodies for the next four tournaments."

Depth could be an issue; UH has only 10 players available. But senior forward Breanna Arbuckle figures the team’s strenuous preseason conditioning will be enough to carry her team through.

"(Coach) made sure it was hard so that when it comes to game time, everything would be easier," Arbuckle said. "So I think she made a good decision to push us hard."

Takahara-Dias said the UH coaches have prepared several days for Portland — which beat UH 66-61 in Oregon last year — and will live scout the second two opponents. These games will be the UH’s first of the season against Division I competition.

Against UHH, sophomore forward Kamilah Jackson picked up where she left off left season with 15 points and 15 rebounds. However, UH shot just 38.5 percent.

"I look at these past games as a confidence builder for us, knowing that our offense, when we do implement it and execute it, it looks OK," Takahara-Dias said. "We can score in bunches and at will. What we need to look on is the consistency of our defense, regardless of who we play."

Freshman guard Malia Cravens (shoulder injury) is expected to remain out for the tournament. UH will gain back post players Vicky Tagalicod and Kalei Adolpho later in the season.