Eleven seconds served to teach Hawaii a costly lesson in its Big West Conference season opener.

The Rainbow Wahine could not protect a four-point lead in the final moments of regulation and Cal Poly sent the measuring-stick game into overtime, where the Mustangs prevailed 78-74 on Wednesday night.

In UH’s first game at home in 38 days, the visitors seemed as comfortable in the Stan Sheriff Center by the night’s stunning end as the hosts. Mustangs senior guard Jonae Ervin went for 37 points — one off the Sheriff women’s basketball record — in the comeback victory, in which Cal Poly trailed by 17 points in the first half.

The Mustangs (7-7, 1-0 BWC), the predicted Big West champion, seemed dead to rights in the final minute of regulation.

With Poly trailing 64-60 after UH center Kalei Adolpho hit one of two free throws with 11 seconds left, Ervin drove to the basket and was fouled while making a layup with 3.8 seconds to go. After a timeout, Ervin missed the free throw on purpose to the right and the Mustangs got two shots off. The second, by forward Taryn Garza, banked in just before the buzzer, sending the game to overtime as the crowd of 701 groaned.

“You gotta play every minute, every second of the game,” said Ervin, who was congratulated by a few Wahine players walking past. “It’s not over ’til the buzzer goes off. I think we had great focus and executed what the coaches wanted. It turned out in our favor.”

UH (6-7, 0-1 BWC) lost for the fourth time in five games. It is the team’s second three-game losing streak under second-year coach Laura Beeman.

UH will try to bounce back against Cal State Northridge on Sunday, after the school’s 2 p.m. alumnae game.

The loss overshadowed a 17-point, 16-rebound performance by UH senior forward Kamilah Jackson, and a career-best 18-point night by senior guard Sydney Haydel.

Those last few seconds of regulation kept running through Jackson’s mind. It would have been a huge win over the defending conference tournament champions, and the only team picked to finish ahead of UH.

“I think we got caught up in the moment,” Jackson said. “Everything that Coach talked about for us to be successful went wrong. And I just think they capitalized on it and we stopped playing. We just have to keep playing until the game ends. I think everybody stopped playing on the last couple shots.

“I know, myself, I got caught watching (on the free throw), looking at the time. Not even turning to find a player (to box out). I apologized to my team for that nonstop, because that was my fault. I missed a block-out. But I just think we gotta play through, play to the horn.”

Poly came back again in overtime after Haydel (4-for-4 on 3-pointers) canned a trey on the first shot of the extra period. 

Ervin, fittingly, responded with a corner triple. She shot 12-for-25 from the field and 11-for-16 from the free-throw line, picking up the slack for 6-foot-5 center Molly Schlemer (10 points, nine boards), the returning Big West player of the year who was hampered by foul trouble.

The Wahine went 15-for-20 from the free-throw line in the first half in building a 17-point lead.

But UH went without a field goal for the final 7:11 of the first half, and watched its advantage shrink to nine at halftime.