A matter of inches separated a Happy New Year from a painful one for the Hawaii women’s basketball team.

Shawna Kuehu’s desperation 12-foot leaner from the right elbow against an Alabama double team hit back iron and the Rainbow Wahine fell 44-43 to the Crimson Tide on Sunday in the final nonconference game of the season for both teams.

"This is an oucher. This one hurts a little," Wahine coach Laura Beeman said. "We know we could have and should have beat that team."

UH (4-7) was denied a third straight win while Bama (10-3) of the Southeastern Conference claimed the Bank of Hawaii Invitational title before a crowd of 543 at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Wahine have only a few days to shake off the what-ifs before opening up Big West Conference play at Cal State Fullerton on Thursday.

"Definitely something we can shake off, something we have to shake off," point guard Monica DeAngelis said. "Something we’ll use as a chip on our shoulders, move forward and take it out on other teams."

Beeman rued an 18-for-29 effort (62.1 percent) at the free-throw line. That included two misses on the front end of 1-and-1s in the second half.

Every freebie mattered in this one. Most of the way, it seemed the first team to 40 would win — both teams shot under 26 percent from the floor. Ultimately, it came down to composure and late-game execution.

Alabama coach Wendell Hudson was given a technical foul for protesting a call with 3:12 left. DeAngelis made both tech foul free throws to tie it up for the last time at 41.

Tide guard Jasmine Robinson (team-high 13 points) got a putback, UH missed at the other end and Daisha Simmons hit one of two foul shots for a three-point lead for the visitors with 1:08 to play.

Junior forward Kamilah Martin scored 15 points with 10 boards to lead UH with her fifth double-double of the season. She banked in a shot with 43.7 seconds left to bring her team within a point.

Alabama looked to run clock at the other end; UH forced an errant shot by Simmons at the end of the shot clock.

The Wahine grabbed the board, dribbled upcourt and called timeout in front of their own bench with 6.4 seconds remaining.

"We were looking for a curl over the top with Vicky (Tagalicod) … they just kind of packed everything in strong side," Beeman said.

The ball was inbounded to the junior wing Kuehu on the right corner, and she was immediately swarmed. She paused momentarily and took a couple of dribbles to the right elbow, where she leaned between Tide players for the potential game-winner.

"I got the ball and they all sank right to me," said Kuehu, who scored five points and grabbed a season-high nine rebounds.

"I saw the clock running down and I knew I had to get a shot off to win it … I did (think it had a chance)."

No dice, though.

UH outrebounded the Tide 53-36, but committed 18 turnovers to press-happy Bama’s nine.

"It was a battle," Hudson said. "Three games in three days, both teams running on fumes. It was going to be an ugly basketball game. That’s what it was. … I was really impressed with (UH’s) effort and how hard they played."

At one point, Alabama was shooting 5-for-36 (13.9 percent). But it scored three straight baskets from there on three straight UH turnovers to take a 31-30 lead with 13:11 to play.

Alabama did not score its first field goal until 9:50 remained in the first half, going 0-for-13 to open the game.

Yet the Tide caught UH at 11, again at 15, and took the lead. DeAngelis had a runner to retake the lead at the half but she was off and the Tide stayed up 18-17 at the break despite shooting 4-for-27 (14.8 percent) in the period.

Cincinnati defeated LIU Brooklyn 59-48 in the day’s earlier game to earn third place in the round-robin tournament.

Tiffany Turner led the Bearcats (8-5) with 15 points and six rebounds.