Injuries, illnesses, and an ill-timed early tipoff could’ve combined to become a downer for the Hawaii women’s basketball team in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

The Rainbow Wahine persevered through all of the above for a 62-50 win over the Mustangs at Cal Poly’s Mott Athletics Center on Saturday afternoon, UH’s first Big West win of the 2024-25 season.

Coach Laura Beeman told Spectrum News in a postgame phone interview that some players spent the previous two nights in urgent care facilities along the Central Coast of California as the illness spread through the team.

“Thursday (a 10-point loss at UC Santa Barbara) was disappointing,” Beeman said, “but we’re so banged up and so sick right now that for the kids to bounce back the way they did, and to show up today and not be down and disappointed and execute when we needed to, it was great.”

Point guard Lily Wahinekapu had 14 points and a season-best seven assists, wing MeiLani McBee hit three 3-pointers and scored a season-high 14 and center Brooklyn Rewers came off the bench to score 11 as UH (7-6, 1-2 Big West) snapped its three-game losing streak. It was UH's seventh straight win in the series, including five in a row at Mott.

UH was still without starting forward Imani Perez and backup guards Kelsie Imai and Danijela Kujovic due to injuries, but it got guard Jovi Lefotu back from a three-game absence.

The game started at 1 p.m. local time “on top of everything,” Beeman said. “(But the players) didn’t react when the situation got bad. They did a better job on the boards (plus-10). I thought we executed much better on 3-point defense (5-for-25, 20% shooting allowed).”

The Wahine yielded four of those 3-pointers to the Mustangs in the first quarter, after which they trailed by three. But they dominated the second period 19-5 for a 32-21 halftime lead and played the hosts essentially even the rest of the way.

Guard Mia ‘Uhila scored seven points in the fourth quarter to help UH put it away when the Mustangs (6-8, 1-3) got back within single digits. Her bucket plus the foul with 4:05 left were UH's first points of the period.

UH made a concerted effort to work the ball into post players Rewers and starter Ritorya Tamilo, to mixed results. Rewers shot 5-for-10 and had a big 3-pointer in the third quarter. Tamilo was 0-for-4 from the field with eight turnovers in 19 minutes.

“We need to work on patience and understanding double teams and rotations,” Beeman said. “We have not had bigs before like we have (this year). So we’re trying to get the ball inside. It’s messed with our chemistry and continuity a little bit, but we know we have the best post players in the conference. We gotta utilize ‘em.”

The defending Big West regular-season champs return home to face UC Riverside (7-7, 3-1) at 7 p.m. Thursday and Cal State Fullerton (2-12, 0-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday.

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