The Hawaii women’s basketball team maintained a share of first place in the Big West Conference with a 54-51 win at UC Santa Barbara today.

UH (14-11, 10-4 BWC) trailed by two at halftime but seized the lead with under 15 minutes to play, and the Rainbow Wahine held on tight to avenge their only BWC home loss, a 51-50 defeat at the hands of the Gauchos last month.

Junior forward Kamilah Martin scored 14 points with eight rebounds to lead UH. Junior wing Shawna Kuehu added 12 points and freshman Destiny King 11, both off the bench.

King hit one of two free throws for a three-point lead in the final seconds. UCSB dribbled upcourt and called timeout with 4.6 seconds left to look for a game-tying shot.

Melissa Zornig’s contested 3-point look was off the mark and UH won its third straight game heading into Saturday’s contest at third-place Cal Poly.

Martin scored five straight for a 35-32 lead, and Kuehu added a pull-up jumper for UH’s largest lead to that point with 13:46 to play.

UCSB came back to tie the game at 45 with 5:15 remaining, but UH went back ahead on two Marissa Wimbley free throws and held off the Gauchos from there.