IRVINE, CALIF. » They weren’t ready to be champions yet.

The resurgent Rainbow Wahine were stonewalled by their own mistakes and a resolute Cal State Fullerton team in a 66-51 upset loss in the Big West tournament second round on Wednesday.

A pro-Hawaii crowd of about 700 at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center could not coax the third-seeded Wahine away from critical errors — which resulted in a 25-10 disparity in points off turnovers — and UH (17-13) was denied its bid for its first conference semifinal appearance since 2003.

A totally new league setting away from recent frustrations in the Western Athletic Conference made no difference on this night, even against an eighth-seeded team UH beat by 10 just four days prior in Honolulu.

It was a bitterly disappointing defeat for the Wahine, who had won six of seven and had earned a first-round bye. A league championship and an NCAA tournament appearance were distinct possibilities for the first time in years.

"I want to congratulate Cal State Fullerton," first-year UH coach Laura Beeman said. "They played with unbelievable purpose tonight. Definitely would have wanted the outcome to be different for Hawaii, but very proud of the girls. Would have liked it to go down a different way."

Beeman and her team now must wait and see if the Women’s National Invitational Tournament will extend an invitation after the NCAA field is picked. The 64-team WNIT announces its picks Monday night.

"There’s a possibility," Beeman said. "Our overall RPI was strong (122) and we can keep our fingers crossed that we’ll get invited to the WNIT."

Said a disappointed UH athletic director Ben Jay: "We’ll see what happens."

The Titans, meanwhile, rode a wave of emotion to the semis — they endured the death of assistant coach Monica Quan last month — and will meet top-seeded Pacific on Friday.

Fullerton (11-21) beat UH for the second time on the mainland this season.

Junior forward Kamilah Martin was one of the few bright spots for UH. She had 15 points, 13 rebounds and a season-high five assists. No one else scored in double figures.

"I think they definitely came out harder than we did," an emotional Martin said. "They just outplayed us."

The Titans shot 57.1 percent in the second half and 42.3 percent for the game, compared to 23.9 percent in Honolulu last Saturday.

"This is some of the best shooting we’ve done all year long," Fullerton coach Marcia Foster said.

This time, Fullerton stuck stubbornly to a zone defense and waited for UH to force tough passes in the halfcourt. It had 17 steals among 22 UH turnovers, including seven thefts by Chante Miles and five by Kathleen Iwuoha. UH freshman Ashleigh Karaitiana had nine points and nine of the UH giveaways.

"We tried to play disciplined in the zone," Foster said. "They ran a lot of their man offense against us last time and we got stuck playing people we didn’t need to play on the perimeter. Martin hurt us anyway, but we were just trying to limit her touches. She’s a beast."

UH played from behind for most of the first half, tied it up at 25 at halftime with a 9-1 run, then fell behind again to start the second period.

Junior wing Shawna Kuehu scored inside to cap an 8-0 run for a 33-30 UH lead. Fullerton outscored UH 20-5 from there.

Kuehu scored inside to make it 52-45, the closest it would get as the Titans converted 14 of 18 at the free-throw line in the second half to seal it.

The Wahine took just seven free throws to Fullerton’s 23, but Beeman would lay no blame on the officials.

"We did not attack the way we needed to," Beeman said.

Senior center Stephanie Ricketts flew into Los Angeles just a couple of hours before tipoff. She started and had four points and three rebounds. Senior point guard Monica DeAngelis shot 3-for-5 on 3-pointers for nine points in what might have been her last game as a UH player.