Too big, too quick, too everything.

North Carolina was on another plane of existence from host Hawaii in the championship of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Showdown. The No. 14 Tar Heels descended just long enough to dominate the Wahine in all facets and coast to a 91-57 victory before a crowd of 999 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

There were still plenty of positives for a UH program (4-2) on the upswing under second-year coach Dana Takahara-Dias. The Wahine never quit, and got a career-high 16 points from redshirt freshman Shawna Kuehu. Freshman forward Kamilah Jackson added 10 points and 10 rebounds to complete a hat trick of double-doubles for the three-day tournament.

Takahara-Dias was pleased with her team’s heart against a lineup boasting players listed at 6-foot-6 and 6-5 — colossal in the women’s college game.

"I was getting a neckache, looking up," the coach said. "But no, their size in the post is awesome. They play with athleticism, they play with lots of poise, and they play with a lot of confidence."

UH’s post players went right up against the Heels inside, but were dominated to the tune of 48-31 on the boards, 42-28 on points in the paint and 28-6 on second-chance points.

The main thing to Takahara-Dias was that the Wahine weren’t afraid to mix it up against a storied traditional power.

"You cannot teach heart and you cannot negate character, and I really thought we had a wonderful tournament from Day 1 to Day 3," she said.

UH senior point guard Keisha Kanekoa was named to the all-tournament team for her career game in the semifinals against Ole Miss, getting the Wahine into the championship. But she was quiet last night and an all-time upset for the program just wasn’t in the cards.

The Heels (7-0) jumped out to a 13-2 lead in the first 3 minutes and never looked back. Jessica Breland, an All-Atlantic Coast Conference preseason selection, went for 19 points and seven rebounds. Guard Italee Lucas had 15 points, seven assists and six boards en route to tourney MVP honors.

There would be no recurring magic of Hawaii’s 15-point win over the Tar Heels in 1988. UNC dominated the backboards, had 21 assists against 10 turnovers and stole the ball 14 times from UH.

Kuehu was willing to carry the banner for the Wahine. She showed no signs of hesitation driving to the basket, despite shooting 2-for-15 in UH’s double-overtime win over Ole Miss. She went 8-for-14 against the Tar Heels, and nearly hit her previous career best of 15 by halftime.

"They’re a great program … and probably more athletic than us," Kuehu said. "But I think the biggest challenge for us was whether we could come together, and stay together. And I think we did that well. We just had to play with our hearts because we were outsized."

A large contingent of North Carolina fans was greeted to a victorious alma mater song and dance by the team as the women accepted their trophy at midcourt. In their sixth appearance in the islands, the Tar Heels earned their third UH tourney title.

"Our depth made a difference. We had good balance with our scoring," said Sylvia Hatchell, in her 25th year as UNC coach. "We love coming here, come every four years … it’s a great tournament. The coaches here and the administration treat us great. We get invited to a lot of things, but this is a priority for us."

By the time Breland hit a teammate on a fast break with a behind-the-back bounce pass and completed the give and go for a 24-9 lead, it was clear where this one was headed. It was 49-28 at halftime.

Most of the second-half drama was reduced to whether UNC would become the first team to hang 100 on the Wahine at the Stan Sheriff Center. The Tar Heels didn’t, and the 34-point loss was merely the team’s ninth-largest at home. Before last night, North Carolina was beating opponents by an average of 46.3 points per game.

UH now heads to the Pacific Northwest for its first away games of the season. The Wahine play at Portland State on Thursday and Portland on Saturday.