Shawna Kuehu’s features contorted into playful skepticism, one eyebrow arched high.

It was her best approximation of how her younger self might respond to the considerable responsibility required of a college student-athlete-mother — with emphasis on that last part.

"Pshhh, whatchu’ talking about?" said Kuehu, who went by the first name Shawna-Lei when she won three Hawaii high school championships and two state player of the year awards at Punahou. "Nah, it would have been shocking."

Kuehu has succeeded in making the extraordinary almost mundane, the impossible merely difficult. The fifth-year Hawaii basketball senior has embraced team leadership on her terms, while still executing the academic demands of any other student.

The kicker, though, is she does all this while raising her 17-month-old daughter, Kaiona.

"I mean, she’s like Wonder Woman. It’s incredible," senior guard Sydney Haydel said. "She can do it all. I sometimes struggle getting though my schoolwork and getting to basketball practice on time. For her to be able to do all of that, have great grades, be a phenomenal mother and a great basketball player, it’s just incredible."

Kuehu, through a year’s worth of experience and plenty of family support, is now able to compartmentalize her demands. It starts with raising Kaiona, who is walking and talking, with a protective mind-set she calls "the bubble."

"You go from being a student-athlete, regular, typical college student," Kuehu said. "Now you have basically somebody’s life in your hands. You control everything for that one person. Definitely my mind has changed."

When people speak of Kuehu today, it’s rare if the word "growth" is not included in the conversation. And it’s not about the nearly 24-year-old wing player’s 5-foot-10 height or impossibly long arms.

She knows when she must defer baby duty to her boyfriend, Cory Enriques, a UH marketing assistant and Kaiona’s father. Kuehu’s family, including twin sister Shaena-Lyn, has picked up the slack behind them in a series of shifts when she travels on road trips or must study or practice.

"Shawna has really grown in the sense that she’s now scheduling a little bit more, and making sure her I’s are dotted and her T’s are crossed," said her mother, Brandy Kaleoaloha. "So that everybody, all of us in this whole planning process, know which wheel we’re turning."

Kuehu’s motherhood has gone hand-in-hand with co-captaincy for the Rainbow Wahine (6-6).

UH heads into Big West Conference play having survived another difficult nonconference schedule. It hosts defending BWC tournament champion and predicted repeat winner Cal Poly (6-7) at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Coach Laura Beeman allowed Kuehu to contribute last season while minimizing the physical demands on her so soon after giving birth. Kuehu thrived in a bench role, as she won the Big West Sixth Woman of the Year and was invaluable as the team compiled a 17-14 record and earned an appearance in the WNIT.

The goals are higher this time around; Kuehu is expected to lead on a game-to-game basis and UH has serious designs on a Big West title.

Not since her legendary Buffanblu career (titles in 2005, ’06 and ’08) have her basketball demands been so consistent. Since graduating from Punahou in 2008, she took a year off from school to work as a boat captain in Kaneohe Bay. In the four years since she became a Wahine player, she’s had two seasons cut short — first by a knee injury in the fall of 2009, then by her pregnancy in 2011.

Kuehu has gotten to know three different UH coaching staffs — she was recruited by Jim Bolla, coached for three years by Dana Takahara-Dias and spent the last two with Beeman.

"I mean, it’s awesome how I was able and fortunate enough to experience things when it was low — and let’s be honest, it was low — to what it is now," Kuehu said. "And I can be able to say I’ve been a part of that. Going through (two) coaching changes … I could look at it as a bad thing, but then I’m happy to be a part of what’s going on now."

She’s in the best shape she can be now, and will do everything from jumping on the opening tip to running the fast break to posting up. She’s third on the team in scoring at 9.4 points, and leads the team in blocks with 13. She recently cracked the UH career top 10 in swats.

Her high point as a leader so far came when she banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer against Minnesota on Dec. 1, sending the game into overtime (and to an eventual UH victory) with a primal scream.

"I think the growth part is that she wants to be our leader," Beeman said. "That she’s sitting here saying, ‘We need a leader. I want to be that leader. I don’t know how to do it, but I want to figure it out.’

"She’s taken the kind of behind-the-scenes approach to leadership. The big step for her is going to be, (bringing) the same energy and attitude as when she hit that 3 to tie up Minnesota and go to overtime."

Kuehu has moments of doubt about her quieter leadership style and occasional reluctance to take teammates aside and talk. Then she realizes she’s already put in the work — a lot of work.

"Sometimes I feel, shoot, I might just be better coming off the bench," she said. "But this is what my team needs, and so it’s about time I step up and kind of take it in already."

She’s pretty much seen it all, and may even have another year left if she goes ahead with an NCAA petition for another year because of her abbreviated redshirt sophomore season.

Life has taught her that change is simply part of the natural order of things. You either adapt or you get out of the way.

Her former carefree self has bought in. Kaiona necessitated that.

"You don’t even know how much you can handle (until) you go through something," Kuehu said. "That’s pretty much what it was. And wanting to lead this team. Wanting to win, wanting to make a change. I wanted all those things.

"It came down to, did I want to follow or did I want to lead? And I believed in myself that I can be a good leader, not just for this team but for myself. That’s how I made the decision and that’s the responsibility that I took on. A lot of that really comes down to being accountable for yourself."

For yourself, and for others.