HONOLULU — Right now, it’s a good thing for Hawaii that UC San Diego can’t compete in the Big West women’s basketball tournament for a few more years.

The Rainbow Wahine struggled against the Tritons for the second time this season, as the host Wahine fell behind by 16 points, made up the deficit in the fourth quarter, then succumbed to a game-winning shot by Tritons guard Julia Macabuhay with 1.6 seconds left in a 62-60 loss on Thursday night at SimpliFi Arena.

What You Need To Know

  • The Hawaii women's basketball team fell out of first place in the Big West Conference after a 62-60 home loss to UC San Diego on Thursday night at SimpliFi Arena

  • UH had its five-game winning streak snapped, while UCSD ended its five-game losing streak

  • UCSD senior guard Julia Macabuhay hit the game-winning basket on a drive with 1.6 seconds left to cap a 20-point night

  • The Rainbow Wahine host new conference leader UC Irvine on Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

UH (12-9, 8-3 Big West) saw its five-game winning streak snapped heading into Saturday’s key matchup with UC Irvine, which overtook UH for first place by virtue of winning percentage at 10-3 in conference.

“Coming back home, being the first-place team with a decent crowd (472 turnstile), I think we played tight,” UH coach Laura Beeman said.

Even though UCSD had won the first meeting between the teams by 24 points at RIMAC Arena on Jan. 13, Thursday qualified as a stunner given that UH had won eight of the past nine games to vault into first – including a win at then-first-place Long Beach State last Saturday. The Tritons, meanwhile, entered at 6-7 in conference play and had lost five straight.

Yet after a quarter, the scoreboard read 20-8 UCSD.

Beeman acknowledged the matchup with the smaller, quicker Tritons could be a tough one for her team. UH’s Big West player of the year candidate, senior forward Amy Atwell, was held to a season-low four points on 1-for-9 shooting.

“They run their cuts really hard. They are very, very quick in getting to the basket,” Beeman said. “Matchups are a little difficult for us. I don’t know, honestly. I was concerned coming into this game just about the amount of 3-point shots that they get off. We have a tendency to lose shooters at times.”

While it was the Tritons’ Sydney Brown doing the damage in the teams’ first meeting with 25 points, this time it was 5-foot-6 guard Macabuhay, who scored 20 on 8-for-18 shooting.

Macabuhay had the ball stolen from her at midcourt with 30 seconds left as UH trapped effectively, yielding a Kelsie Imai layup to tie the game as UH completed a rally from 11 points down with five minutes left.

But Macabuhay, who played her first two years against Division II competition, was undeterred. UH tried to trap again but she evaded the defense, attacked the lane with a left-handed dribble and kissed a runner off the glass for the win.

Macabuhay described the moment as, “Poise under pressure to stay under control.”

She said the team’s season goal is to “make a name for ourselves. We were expected to end in the lower part of the Big West, so just making it known that UC San Diego is here to play in the Big West.”

UH had a final chance coming out of a timeout with the ball advanced past halfcourt but the inbounds pass to Daejah Phillips was broken up.

Phillips keyed the UH comeback with hard drives en route to a career-high 24 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Point guard Nae Nae Calhoun added 10 points, also as a backup.

“We’ll be back Saturday. We’ll be hungry Saturday,” Phillips pledged.

Beeman said she was glad that there was “frustration and hurt” in the team’s locker room after the loss.

Unlike in Big West men’s basketball, games against UC San Diego count for the conference standings on the women’s side, even though the Tritons are not eligible to compete in the Big West tournament until 2025.