There’s a third-year coach at the University of Hawaii who gets a pass on some losses because a lot of people see progress.

For the first nine minutes Saturday the women’s basketball team went toe-to-toe with the fifth-ranked team in the nation. The Rainbow Wahine enjoyed an eight-point lead early on.

Then Shawna Kuehu went to the bench with two fouls, soon to be followed by Destiny King.

Kuehu returned to the game only briefly in the second half.

And that was that.

Stanford went on an extended run while — without two key veteran glue players — Hawaii cooled off. The Rainbow Wahine eventually regained their balance, but not enough to really get back in it all the way and Stanford won 86-73.

Some day, losses like this will wear on fans like they do the players (the JC transfers in particular are used to winning, regardless of the opponent). But for now, in coach Laura Beeman’s third year, it’s still OK with the fans because the Wahine are moving in the right direction and at a decent enough pace.

Hawaii has never beaten Stanford in eight tries. The last time was two years ago when the Cardinal crushed the Wahine by 27.

This game was a lot closer than the 13-point difference. We can only wonder what might have happened if Kuehu hadn’t banged her left knee against somebody else’s early in the second half. She spent the final 18 minutes on the end of the bench. UH missed not only her scoring, but her defense and leadership.

But the fact that the Wahine didn’t fall apart without their most experienced player means a lot and is encouraging for the future.

"They could’ve looked at the name ‘Stanford’ and said, ‘They’re just better, Coach, and we’re going to roll over.’"

They didn’t.

They did, however, have a problem with perimeter defense. Lili Thompson, a sophomore sharpshooter, used a variety of screens to get wide open and nailed all but one from 3-point land.

As Beeman noted, outside shooting was one of the few significant stats in which Stanford dominated Hawaii. And domination it was, and basically the difference in the game; other than Shawlina Segovia’s 4-for-5 from beyond the arc, UH was 1-for-12.

It was a tall order, (6-foot-3 all across the Cardinal front line), but UH was close to even on the boards, including 15 offensive caroms.

Those first nine minutes did not look flukey at all, as both teams took care of the ball and executed their offenses. It wasn’t a case of Stanford playing poorly.

For a while, it looked like matinee hoops might steal the thunder of volleyball’s senior night. This will always be a volleyball state, but there’s no reason basketball can’t continue to improve, especially with Beeman at the helm.

"We’re capable of playing really good basketball," she said.

But are they ready to do it for an entire game, against a ranked team? They get to try again Sunday against North Carolina.

Reach Star-Advertiser sports columnist Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com, his "Quick Reads" blog at staradvertiser.com and twitter.com/davereardon.