These seniors were sent off with a little something new.

The Hawaii Rainbow Wahine sent off four outgoing players on a high note with a 53-43 win over Cal State Fullerton on Saturday’s senior night, then practiced cutting down a Stan Sheriff Center net in preparation for next week’s Big West tournament.

"It’s awesome that we got this," said point guard Monica DeAngelis, one of the four. "Our coach (Laura Beeman) has been harping about us being in a championship game, and they made this our championship game. This is one of the coolest things I’ve ever been a part of."

UH (17-12, 13-5 Big West) was already locked in at tip-off for the third seed based on results around the league. They initially played like it, going down four to the Titans at the break.

The Wahine shook off the anemic first half and seized control with a 21-7 run coming out of the break, and DeAngelis, center Stephanie Ricketts, wing Vicky Tagalicod and guard Kanisha Bello were honored in traditional fashion after the win. It was the program’s fifth straight victory on senior night.

Somehow they prevailed, shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 48 percent from the free-throw line against the eighth-place Titans (9-21, 5-13), who were held to 23.9 percent shooting.

"You know, we are not going to play pretty basketball," said Beeman, the first-year coach. "We’ve kind of come to that conclusion as a staff and as a team. But as long as we win, it doesn’t matter I guess, right? Ugly win. We’ll take as many more as we can string together. We want three … to get into the postseason and the NCAA. That’s been our goal all along."

A crowd of 1,866 saw UH win for the sixth time in seven games heading into Southern California.

The third-seeded Wahine receive a bye for the first round and play the lowest-seeded advancing team on Wednesday at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center.

Beeman wanted to give her team a taste of a championship atmosphere, so after her seniors were given a tribute, she had the team climb a ladder and cut down a net.

"I know that’s untraditional and weird, but if you have never done it then you don’t know what it feels like," Beeman said. "Now they know what it feels like."

Beeman started the four outgoing players, with Bello getting her first nod of the season and Tagalicod her second.

Tagalicod, of Pahoa, had more than 50 friends and family celebrate with her afterward. About half flew over from her native Hawaii island. She scored 11.

"I was nervous," Tagalicod said. "All my teammates were telling me, ‘You started last year.’ But it’s different, coming in knowing my family was here. It was a lot of anxiety. … (now) it feels good."

Junior forward Kamilah Martin had 18 points and 12 rebounds, her 14th double-double of the season, to lead UH.

Both teams were locked into their tournament seeding before tip-off. Pacific’s 59-54 win at UC Davis gave the Tigers sole possession of the regular-season title and the top seed. UH finished tied with Cal Poly in second at 13-5, but lost the tiebreaker because the Mustangs beat Pacific twice in the regular season to one time for UH.

CSUF is the final seed in the tourney. UH and CSUF could meet again in the BWC second round.

UH avenged an 83-74 loss at Fullerton to open league play on Jan. 3. Chante Miles led the Titans with 12 points.

CSUF played through tragedy this season. UH has worn orange ribbons on its warm-up uniforms in tribute to Titans assistant coach Monica Quan, who was found killed on Feb. 3.