HONOLULU — The largest crowd of University of Hawai'i women's basketball coach Laura Beeman's tenure witnessed the Rainbow Wahine pull off a heart-stopping 68-64 win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center. 
 
A crowd of 5,068 packed into the arena for "Beeman's Big Bash" passing the mark of 4,340 set on Senior Night in 2015, previously the highest attendance mark of Beeman's 12-year UH career. The energized crowd help fuel the Rainbow Wahine (16-9, 12-3 Big West), who avenged last month's loss at UCSB (16-9, 10-5) while maintaining their hold on first place in the conference standings.

Daejah Phillips scored 17 of her game-high 22 points in the first half, while also hitting a career milestone. The junior entered the game with 990 career points and became the 24th member of the program's 1,000-point club with a personal 11-point run in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, Lily Wahinekapu scored a season-high 20 points, highlighted by eight critical points in a key fourth-quarter run that put the Rainbow Wahine up for good. Sophomore forward Imani Perez contributed 10 points and eight rebounds to UH's ninth straight home victory.

USCB forward Alexis Whitfield posted 21 points and 17 rebounds and gaurd Jessica Grant hit five 3-pointers to finish with 15 points for the Gauchos. 

 After trailing by five at halftime, UH shot 56% in the second half and hit six of its first seven shots of the fourth quarter to pull away from the Gauchos in a back-and-forth affair. 

UCSB, which took control early in the first meeting of the season, jumped out to an 8-2 lead while UH got out to a 1-for-7 start from the field. Phillips provided instant energy and production off the bench with her 11-point run, including UH's first 3-pointer of the night. She converted a steal into a layup to cap the run and pass the 1,000-point mark for her career.
 
The first 15 minutes amounted to a scoring duel between Phillips and Whitfield. Phillips had 13 midway through the second quarter while Whitfield had 14 after hitting a 3-pointer to give UCSB a 23-18 lead and prompt a UH timeout.
 
Phillips stayed hot and went into halftime with 17 points, but so did UCSB from 3-point range. The Gauchos connected on five in the second quarter and back-to-back 3-pointers by Zoe Borter and Grant gave UCSB a 32-24 lead. Wahinekapu answered for UH with 1:15 left in the half and the 'Bows went to the break trailing 32-27.

The 'Bows came out the locker room firing led by Wahinekapu, who went on the attack early with a mid-range jumper and a drive while drawing a foul to score the first five points of the half. She then came up with a steal and fed Olivia Davies for a 3-pointer and Ashley Thoms' corner 3 made it an 11-0 UH run to start the half and a 38-32 lead.

Grant hit her third 3-pointer and Whitfield hit another in a 12-2 UCSB surge that gave the Gauchos a 44-40 lead. MeiLani McBee hit a 3-pointer to end the run and trigger a 7-1 UH burst to close the third quarter and Perez's layup in the lane gave UH a 48-47 lead going into the fourth.

Jacque David opened the final period with a jumper and Wahinekapu took over with two drives and a 3-pointer that gave UH a 55-47 cushion. UH opened up a 64-53 lead  before Anya Choice and Grant again hit back-to-back 3s and Borter drained a mid-range jumper to make it an 8-0 run and cut the deficit to 64-61 with 3 minutes left.
 
UH went without a field goal over the final 5:35 but managed to fend off the Gauchos and Phillips hit two free throws with 53.7 seconds to make it 66-61. Grant hit her final 3-pointer to add to the drama with 29 seconds left. But McBee hit two more free throws and the 'Bows closed out the win to a raucous ovation from the crowd.

The Rainbow Wahine will have a week to recharge before heading to California to face Long Beach State on Feb. 24 at the Walter Pyramid. Tipoff is scheduled for 3 p.m. Pacific Time (1 p.m. Hawai'i time).