Who needs that silly 3-point line, anyway?

Not the Hawaii women’s basketball team, which went without a long ball for the first time this season yet still handily defeated UC Irvine 56-46 in the team’s Big West Conference home opener on Wednesday night.

A Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 461 saw the Rainbow Wahine turn their attention inside and scrap for a 32-22 advantage in points in the paint. It was rarely aesthetically pleasing, but it was hard to argue with the result as UH improved to 6-8 overall and 2-1 in the BWC.

"We said before the game we weren’t just going to sit out on the perimeter and jack up 3s," UH coach Laura Beeman said. "We were 0-for-5, and that’s why we didn’t want to do that. We’ve struggled from the 3-point line a little bit."

UH is 27 percent on the season from long range. Thus, in three games of Big West play, the Wahine really turned their focus inside; they’ve attempted a combined 16 3s, making four against heavy doses of zone defense.

"We can go inside so often, and that’s the beauty of what we do. We can get the ball inside from top-down entries or wing entries," Beeman said. "That’s where we want to go, because it’s a higher-percentage shot. It slows the game down for us as far as transition. I absolutely love the 3-ball. I just want us to do it when it’s appropriate with our feet set. We haven’t told them not to, we’ve just told them to do it smartly."

Redshirt freshman wing Ashleigh Karaitiana matched her season high of 16 points with three steals and junior forward Kamilah Martin had eight points and a game-high 12 rebounds to lead UH. Karaitiana shot 8-for-15.

The Wahine never trailed in this one, and answered with a basket by Destiny King when UCI got within 46-41 with 5:40 to play, the closest margin late in the game.

"It’s always great to play in front of your home crowd," said Martin, who made all six of her free-throw attempts. "You definitely want to win at home, as well as on the road. I think the home games are the most important ones. You always want to win on your floor and protect home court."

The Wahine moved into a third-place tie with Long Beach State (9-6, 2-1), their opponent at 5 p.m. on Sunday. That contest will follow UH’s annual alumnae game at 2:30.

UC Irvine (4-11, 0-3) was held to 46 points for the third straight game. The Anteaters mustered only 29.1 percent shooting, including 3-for-18 (16.7 percent) on 3s, to 41.8 percent overall for UH.

Steals, assists and turnovers were a wash for both teams, which added up to a win in those categories for the Wahine.

UH capitalized on Irvine turnovers in the first half to post a 10-2 scoring advantage off giveaways and took a 24-20 lead into the break. No Wahine player had more than four points at the time.

It was UH’s sixth straight win over UC Irvine, going back to the Wahine’s last go-round in the Big West in 1996.

Former Wahine coach Vince Goo, the program leader in wins (334), was the game’s honorary captain. UH plans to honor a different captain before each of the remaining eight home games.