Rainbow Wahine basketball is back.

Laura Beeman earned the biggest win of her young Hawaii coaching career as UH carved out a share of first place in the Big West Conference with a 74-71 overtime defeat of league leader Pacific on Saturday night at the Stan Sheriff Center.

Ashleigh Karaitiana’s 3-pointer from the deep left corner with 14 seconds left in the extra period staked UH to a three-point lead, and UOP guard Erica McKenzie’s off-balance shot from the opposite spot on the court was off at the OT buzzer.

Junior wing Shawna Kuehu came up huge with the game on the line, scoring the team’s first six points of overtime before Karaitiana’s winner.

"This is EXACTLY the moment that I’ve been waiting for," said Kuehu, who had 17 points, eight rebounds, two blocks and two steals. She smiled and laughed. "This is the turnaround year. And I’m really glad to be a part of it."

Wahine players hugged each other tight at midcourt as the crowd of 1,220 celebrated right along with them.

Win by win — and this one was certainly the biggest in several seasons — the Wahine are shaking the stigma of losing that’s hung over the program since Vince Goo retired in 2004.

UH improved to 13-11 overall and 9-4 in the Big West. Pacific (19-6, 9-4) was denied a program-record-tying 20th win.

UH has a realistic shot at its first regular-season conference championship since 1997-98 under Goo. That squad went 24-4 and was the program’s most recent NCAA tournament participant.

That’s the goal for this group, though it will still take plenty of work with five regular-season games remaining.

"Winning is easy. It’s continuing to win that’s hard," Beeman said. "It’s sustaining the winning. Anyone can say, ‘Oh, we won!’ And then we lose. We have to sustain. This is a great win for us going to a really, really big road trip."

UH travels to fourth-place UC Santa Barbara on Thursday and third-place Cal Poly on Saturday.

Pacific used 27 turnovers to prevail 71-61 over UH in Stockton, Calif., last month. For the first few minutes, it looked like Hawaii would wilt again against ball pressure as the Tigers scored the game’s first eight points.

Instead, the Rainbow Wahine blossomed. They broke the Pacific press almost at will; each team finished with 16 giveaways.

The Wahine held a narrow lead for most of the second half after going up one at halftime. Monica DeAngelis (10 points, six assists) hit a big corner 3-pointer for a 64-61 lead with 1:05 left, but UOP’s Gena Johnson (game-high 22 points) scored twice on takes to the basket while UH managed just a free throw by Sydney Haydel, making it 65-all.

Junior forward Kamilah Martin had a great look for a game-winner at the end of regulation, but her bank shot from the right block went off the front of the rim. Martin finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season and third straight.

Karaitiana added 11 points. Her winning shot was her first 3-pointer of the game.

UH beat UOP on the glass, 35-29.

The Wahine could have taken a firm grasp on the lead, but a 22-for-40 effort (55 percent) on free throws kept it close.