No. 11 North Carolina fought off Hawaii’s upset bid and closed the Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Shootout with a 74-65 win on Sunday at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UNC guard Allisha Gray led the Tar Heels with 19 points and nine rebounds and tournament MVP Latifah Coleman went 4-for-4 from 3-point range and finished with 16 points. UNC swept through the three-day tournament to improve to 7-0.

UH senior Shawna-Lei Kuehu nearly powered the Wahine to the upset with a game-high 28 points. She shot 7-for-16 from the field and 14-for-16 from the free-throw line for UH (4-3).

UH was without center Connie Morris while Kuehu remained in the starting lineup after missing most of the second half of Saturday’s loss to Stanford due to a knee injury. Kuehu carried the Wahine early in scoring UH’s first eight points.

There were five lead changes and four ties in the first half, the last coming when Ashleigh Karaitiana hit a 3-pointer from the top to knot the score at 27-27 with 4:08 left in the first half.

But UNC took off on a 12-0 run with Gray hitting her third 3-pointer of the half and Coleman draining another to give the Tar Heels a 39-27 lead.

Karaitiana and Kuehu accounted for the final four points of the half and UH went into the break trailing 39-31.

UH made just two of its first 19 shots from the field to open the second half and North Carolina maintained control until the Wahine went on an 11-3 run and closed to 62-58 when Kuehu drove for a layup with 4:45 left.

UNC stretched the lead back to nine when Gray scored on a putback with 2 minutes remaining. Karaitiana hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to 69-63 with 1:44 left.

But UNC pulled away from the free throw line and UH couldn’t get shots to drop until Kuehu’s layup with 7 seconds left.

The Rainbow Wahine return to the Sheriff Center on Saturday to face Pacific.