Oregon State headed back to the mainland with a tournament title.

But Hawaii was more than happy to leave the Stan Sheriff Center yesterday with a victory over the Beavers to close the Jack in the Box Rainbow Wahine Classic.

The Rainbow Wahine saw a 15-point second half lead shrink to three in the final minute, but held on for a 54-49 win over the Beavers of the Pac-10.

UH’s win created a three-way tie with Oregon State and Eastern Michigan at 2-1 in tournament play. The Beavers were awarded the title based on having surrendered the fewest points over the weekend.

But grinding out a win a day after struggling in a 16-point loss to Eastern Michigan was reward enough for the Wahine.

"The wins are good, and even the loss helped us work hard in the next game," said UH forward Breanna Arbuckle, the tournament’s most outstanding player. "We just didn’t want it to happen again, so we worked hard and came out strong."

Arbuckle scored a game-high 13 points, including two free throws with 29 seconds left to hold off Oregon State’s comeback attempt.

Guard Megan Tinnin, who made five 3-pointers in Saturday’s loss, added four yesterday to finish with 12 points while moving to within three of the UH’s career record.

She sparked the Wahine early with two from long range in the opening minutes as UH built a 30-19 lead going into halftime.

Oregon State turned up the defensive pressure to harass UH into 11 second-half turnovers before the rally came up just short.

"They changed up their defense a little bit and started pressuring us, and we tried to stay composed, and we did the best we could do to stay in control," Tinnin said. "There’s things we need to improve on, but we’re happy with the way we performed."

The Wahine outrebounded Oregon State 39-31 behind Shawna-Lei Kuehu’s 11 boards and came out with a win despite having point guard Keisha Kanekoa, the team’s leading scorer last year, shut out of the scoring column.

"Keisha’s value is more than the points she produces," UH coach Dana Takahara-Dias said. "It’s her presence on the floor."

Kanekoa had six assists against five turnovers and was called for an intentional foul on a breakaway with 1:51 left and UH protecting a 52-46 lead. But after OSU’s Jenna Dixon made one of two free throws, the Wahine forced a 5-second call on OSU’s inbounds play to maintain some breathing room.

The Beavers cut the UH lead to 52-49 on Earlysha Marchbanks’ layup with 59 seconds left. It appeared OSU would get the ball back again, but Arbuckle drew a foul just as the shot clock expired. Her two free throws gave the Wahine a five-point edge with 29 seconds remaining.

"We learned something yesterday," Takahara-Dias said. "When the run came at us, we were not able to make the adjustments. Oregon State played a really good second half; they came at us and I’m so pleased our team was able to respond in a positive way and finish it out strong."

UH next hosts the eight-team Waikiki Beach Marriott Rainbow Wahine Showdown starting Friday.

Eastern Michigan 79, Cal State Northridge 68

Kalani graduate Violet Alama scored a career-high 32 points on 12-for-19 shooting from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds for the Matadors. But the Eagles were able to hold off CSUN’s second-half rally to finish the tournament at 2-1.

EMU guard Tavelyn James had 24 points, 23 coming in the first half when she made nine of 10 shots from the field to propel the Eagles to a 49-30 halftime lead.

Analee Viena-Lota (Kamehameha) scored eight points and Janelle Nomura (Punahou) had five points and three assists for Cal State Northridge (0-3).