Perhaps Pythagoras was wrong after all. The world is indeed flat.

Or so it felt to the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball team, its NCAA dream deflated like a punctured balloon. The 67-60 loss to Cal State Northridge in Saturday’s Big West title game not only snapped the Rainbow Wahine’s 15-game winning streak, it handed them some well-worn shoes rather than shiny new pairs for postseason dancing.

Instead of the hoped-for NCAA Selection Show viewing party Monday afternoon, Hawaii will be in Gym II practicing and preparing for its third consecutive trip to the Women’s NIT. The bracket will be announced online about the same time as the Rainbow Wahine finish the preparation for their next game.

When and where and who are unknowns until then. Two years ago, Hawaii was sent to San Diego to face the host Toreros of USD; last season, it was Seattle and host Washington.

"It would be awesome if we were playing at home this time," Rainbow Wahine senior captain Shawna-Lei Kuehu said after the team arrived back in Honolulu on Sunday. "I don’t know what the odds are, but it would be nice to play in our arena, not have to turn around and travel right away.

"But the fact that we have another game is a blessing. There are a lot of teams, even teams in our conference, who would like to be in our position.

"There was a lot of silence during (the flight back), all of us trying to heal from that tough loss, but we want to keep playing as many games with each other as we can. As (junior guard) Destiny King said, ‘We’re not done yet.’"

Hawaii coach Laura Beeman touched on the whys of what made her describe the not-a-dry-eye postgame locker room as one of the roughest in her four decades of playing and coaching the sport.

"Our players are heartbroken. They didn’t want to just win it for themselves, but they wanted to win it for the university and the entire state," Beeman said. "Nobody in our conference understands that ‘burden’ if you will.

"I hope the WNIT says, ‘Let’s bring it to the people of Hawaii.’ We should be seeded pretty high and I think we’d get 3,000-4,000 (fans)."

Hawaii has put in a bid to host, but given the track record with postseason bids, the Rainbow Wahine are prepared to repack their bags quickly. The first-round games are at 32 campus sites and will be played between Wednesday and Friday. Given the travel mandates that visiting teams need to arrive at least one day prior to the game and that Hawaii is hosting Texas in a women’s exhibition volleyball match Thursday at the Stan Sheriff Center, it appears that Friday is the only day possible.

Whether the Rainbow Wahine are home or sent away didn’t change the off-court preparation for the coaching staff. That began with reviewing the game tape of Saturday’s loss, one in which CSUN went to the free-throw line 34 times (making 22), while Hawaii was 12-for-16, all attempts coming in the second half.

"The officiating wasn’t why we lost," Beeman said. "There were maybe two questionable calls that I can think of right now, but I don’t understand how the game was called. I want to go back and look at the film to see what we were doing wrong, why we weren’t getting the same calls as they were.

"I think when you look at the turnovers (UH had 18 to CSUN’s 9) and that they doubled us up on free throws to still play them even in the second half, shows the moxie of this team. They could have easily beaten us by 15 or 20."

Both Beeman and Kuehu pointed to the final minutes of the first half as the turning point. The Rainbow Wahine missed nine mostly open shots and committed six turnovers after taking what would be their last lead at 14-11. The Matadors broke a 14-14 tie on a 3-pointer by Emily Cole, sparking a 13-6 run that led to a 27-20 halftime lead. It would be the same margin as the final score.