Point guard Lily Wahinekapu scored 20 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dealt five assists against her former team to help Hawaii outlast Cal State Fullerton in double overtime, 82-75, in a Big West women’s basketball tournament quarterfinal on Wednesday night.

Third-seeded UH (16-14) overcame some tense moments at the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nev., including a three-point deficit near the end of the first overtime that was solved by a Meilani McBee corner 3-pointer, to advance to face second-seeded Long Beach State (23-8) at 12:30 p.m. Hawaii time on Friday.

UH swept CSUF (14-16) home-and-home during the regular season, but that hardly mattered this time. On a day that top-seeded UC Irvine went down to No. 9 Cal State Bakersfield in the opening quarterfinal, Jeff Harada’s sixth-seeded Titans proved a tough out for the defending Big West tournament champions. Neither team managed a commanding lead at any point.

"Am I surprised we won this game tonight? Absolutely not," UH coach Laura Beeman said in the Big West's postgame press conference. "That is what this group has done all year long. They have found a way to play great basketball. And really bad basketball, and still win. And we had a little bit of both of those tonight."

In the game’s decisive sequence, UH, protecting a two-point lead in 2OT, poked the ball loose in its defensive half-court and after a mad dash for the ball, Wahinekapu came up with it and got fouled with 8.7 seconds left.

With a chance to put the game out of reach, Wahinekapu made just one of two at the line for a 78-75 lead. But Fullerton, which called for a timeout when it had none remaining, was assessed an administrative technical foul. It gave UH two free throws and the ball; Wahinekapu buried two at the line, and Daejah Phillips added two more to seal the outcome.

"I feel like our group is pretty calm in these kind of situations," Wahinekapu said. "We practice situational things … and we know we have good shooters, and other people to contribute on the boards. I feel we really trust each other to get the job done."

Coming straight to Division I out of Iolani School, Wahinekapu won Big West Freshman of the Year at CSUF as a high-usage player in 2021-22. She transferred home in the offseason to play in front of family with her younger sister Jovi. Though she consistently downplayed the matchup, she was key in all three UH victories over her former teammates and coaches in bringing Fullerton's season to a close in 2022-23.

On Wednesday, she shot 5-for-11 from the field, 8-for-10 at the free-throw line, turned it over just once and had three steals.

McBee scored 14 points, Phillips added 13 off the bench and freshman center Imani Perez had 11 for UH.

In a back-and-forth final few minutes of regulation, McBee had an open look at a game-winning 3, but drew only the front iron.  

She later redeemed herself. In the first overtime, UH’s Ashley Thoms was called for a foul going for a rebound and Gabi Vidmar hit two foul shots to go ahead with 50.4 seconds left. Ashlee Lewis, who scored a game-high 22 points for Fullerton, made it a three point game.

Coming out of a timeout, McBee splashed a 3 on a drawn-up play in which Phillips drove under the basket and found her open in the right corner.

"It felt pretty great," McBee said. "We practice that play a lot, especially in situationals. In that moment, we ran it perfectly … timing wise, everything went perfect. I’m just glad the shot went in."

Harada, a Hawaii native who completed his sixth season at CSUF, rued his team's collapsing defense on Phillips' dribble-drive when only a 3 could hurt the Titans, and a few other assorted misses and turnovers in a tight game. He placed no blame on Lewis, who called the extra timeout in 2OT, telling her the team wouldn't have been in the game without her efforts.

"It came down to the team that made one or two more plays that was victorious, unfortunately for us tonight. So credit to (Hawaii)," Harada said. "But I’m very proud of my team. … They played a heck of a game in a game probably nobody thought they had a chance to win."

Like UH and several other Big West teams this season, CSUF had some key players go out with season-ending injuries, especially at point guard.

Brian McInnis covers the state's sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.