Bottom line, Hawaii got the win it needed to open a challenging weekend.

That said, the Rainbow Wahine weren’t all that satisfied with their performance in a 72-58 win over Prairie View A&M on Friday at the Stan Sheriff Center in their opening game of the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout.

UH saw a 13-point lead cut to two in the second half but ended the game on a 14-2 run to fend off the Lady Panthers and improve to 4-1 for the first time since the 2010-11 season.

After pulling out Friday’s win with the late surge, the Wahine will look to sharpen their game when they face No. 5 Stanford on Saturday and No. 11 North Carolina on Sunday. Both games are scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

"It was an ugly win, but these next two games are going to be a lot more intense," UH senior Ashleigh Karaitiana said. "The level’s going to be a lot higher and we need to get up to that level."

Center Connie Morris led UH with 15 points and senior forward Shawlina Segovia sparked the Wahine with a season-high 14 points off the bench. Both post players shot 7-for-9 from the field.

Guard Morgan Mason finished with 12 points and five assists while Karaitiana scored in double figures for the fifth straight game with 11 points. UH senior Shawna-Lei Kuehu finished with six points and reached a milestone with a team-high six rebounds, giving her 501 in her career.

UH shot a season-high 56.9 percent from the field and held Prairie View A&M (0-4) without a field goal over the final 7:46 of the game. But some of the other stats grated on Rainbow Wahine coach Laura Beeman, in particular 21 turnovers, 52 percent free-throw shooting and Prairie View A&M’s 15 offensive rebounds.

"I just want us to compete on a nightly basis. Tonight I don’t feel like we competed," Beeman said. "We just showed up, went through the motions and did what we needed to do to win. But we didn’t compete and that’s not what great teams do."

UH will face a Stanford team that has lost two of its past three since beating No. 1 Connecticut on Nov. 17. It enters Saturday’s game smarting from a 70-54 loss to North Carolina on Friday.

"They’re a great team and they will come out with a focus to win whether they would have won today or lost today," Beeman said.

Prairie View A&M center Shamiya Brooks gave UH fits in the post and led the Panthers with 13 points, while guard Jeanette Jackson, who entered the game averaging 20.7 points per game, finished with 12.

"We had to focus on Prairie View before we could worry about Stanford," Segovia said. "With Stanford we just have to have a different focus than we did today and whole different mind-set than we did today."

No. 11 North Carolina 70, No. 5 Stanford 54

Senior guard Latifah Coleman hit four of the Tar Heels’ 12 3-pointers and UNC (5-0) earned its third win over a ranked opponent this season by knocking off the Cardinal (3-2).

Coleman, who entered the game with eight points this season, finished with a game-high 19 on 7-for-12 shooting from the field to go along with with six assists and six rebounds. Xylina McDaniel added 15 points on 6-for-10 shooting and Stephanie Mavunga had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Lili Thompson was Stanford’s lone player in double figures with 15 points as the Cardinal shot 31 percent (17-for-55) from the field.

North Carolina ended last season with a loss to Stanford in the NCAA tournament regional finals. The Tar Heels never trailed in Friday’s rematch. After Stanford closed to 39-34 with 13:41 left, North Carolina hit six 3-pointers in a 23-6 run to pull away.

HAWAII 72, PRAIRIE VIEW A&M 58