HONOLULU — After the Hawaii women’s basketball team found a way not to fall victim to UC San Diego at the Stan Sheriff Center for a third straight time, coach Laura Beeman knew exactly whom to thank.

In an on-court interview following the 64-52 victory Saturday, Beeman said, “Lily (Wahinekapu) had a great fourth quarter. I thought Jacque (David) gave us great minutes. I’ll tell you who was the best, though – these fans. Amazing job, love you guys, thank you for coming out. This is phenomenal.”

A season-high crowd of 1,247 (1,942 tickets issued) was on hand to see the Rainbow Wahine (9-7, 6-1 Big West) climb back into first place in the conference in conjunction with a loss by UC Santa Barbara – UH’s opponent on the road on Thursday.

There are five BWC foes within a game and a half of the Wahine. But if Saturday was any indication, the Wahine can summon poise in tight situations. They committed a season-low eight turnovers after posting 23 giveaways in a thriller against Long Beach State on Thursday.

UCSD (7-11, 3-4) made several runs at UH’s game-long lead, the last of which brought the Tritons to within 53-50 with 4:30 remaining.

Wahinekapu (16 points) and Daejah Phillips (15) answered with an 11-2 run to close out the game against a transitional Division I program that stunned UH at the Sheriff the last two years. 

This is the last season of UCSD’s four-year journey to full D-I status.

“That’s a really good team,” Beeman said. “Heidi (VanDerveer) does such a fantastic job with her program, and they’ve had our number here, so that kind of creeps into the back of your head a little bit. But after that timeout, the girls said no, it’s winning time.”

VanDerveer is the younger sister of Stanford’s legendary coach, Tara VanDerveer.

Guard Sumayah Sugapong and forward Damilola Sule led the Tritons with 15 points apiece.

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