Better to win ugly than to lose pretty.

Saturday’s Big West basketball game between Hawaii and Cal State Fullerton would never be mistaken for a beauty contest. And the Rainbow Wahine didn’t care, grinding out a 54-43 win over the host Titans for their ninth straight victory.

Led by senior guard Shawna-Lei Kuehu’s 17 points and a perimeter defense that limited Fullerton to a third of its usual 3-point attempts, Hawaii left Titan Gym with a 11⁄2-game lead in the conference standings over idle UC Davis.

The gap between first and third also grew, courtesy of Cal Poly’s overtime win at Long Beach State, leaving the Mustangs and 49ers tied for third at 7-4. It was one of two upsets Saturday, the other being UC Riverside’s overtime loss at UC Irvine, just the second conference win for the Anteaters.

The Rainbow Wahine wanted to make sure that there wasn’t a third.

"We knew going into our game that Riverside had lost and that Long Beach was down," Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. "We made it a point to the team that we needed to take care of business. We know that on any given night, anyone can beat anyone in this league.

"Fullerton is a good team. They can take you out of your game plan and tonight we did struggle at times. It was a grind and we grinded it out."

Senior guard Ashleigh Karaitiana hit two 3-pointers to help Hawaii to a 29-17 halftime lead. The Rainbow Wahine led by as many as 13 midway through the second half, but the Titans rallied to within 36-32 with 9:02 remaining.

Kuehu took over, scoring eight points during Hawaii’s 10-2 run. Fullerton never got closer than eight the rest of the night.

Chante Miles led the Titans with 21 points, including the only 3-pointer. Fullerton had been averaging 6.6 treys coming into the game, and nearly 24 attempts from behind the arc.

"We worked hard to get them out of their rhythm," said Kuehu, who scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half. "We were a little tired, but we knew how important this game was.

"At times it felt like we were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. It was a different energy. It feels really good every time we win. I don’t know how many it is now."

It’s nine heading into next week’s homestand. Hawaii hosts UC Irvine on Thursday at 7 p.m. and UC Davis on Saturday at 5 p.m.

The win was the first for the Rainbow Wahine at Titan Gym since rejoining the Big West in the 2012-13 season. It tied the all-time series at 15.

The nine-game winning streak is the longest since Vince Goo’s 1997-98 team won 19 in a row.

Saturday

Hawaii 54, CS Fullerton 43

CSUN 60, UC Santa Barbara 21

Cal Poly 58, Long Beach State 57, OT

UC Irvine 76, UC Riverside 72, OT

Thursday

UC Irvine at Hawaii, 7 p.m.

CS Fullerton at Cal Poly

Long Beach State at UC Davis

UC Riverside at UC Santa Barbara

Hawaii 54, CS Fullerton 43

Halftime — Hawaii 26, CS Fullerton 17

3-point goals — Hawaii 4-18 (Karaitiana 2-6, Wimbley 1-2, Segovia 1-3, King 0-1, Harris 0-3, Mason 0-3). CS Fullerton 1-8 (Miles 1-5, Butler 0-1, Logan 0-1, Tivenius 0-1). Steals — Hawaii 8 (Kuehu 4, Mason 3, King). CS Fullerton 4 (Butler, Iwuohu, Johnson, Miles). Turnovers — Hawaii 9 (King 2, Sampton 2, Kuehu, Mason, Segovia, Toeaina, Wimbley). CS Fullerton 15 (Iwuoha 3, Miles 3, Smith 3, Butler 2, Williams 2, Johnson, Tivenius). Assists — Hawaii 13 (Karaitiana 3, Kuehu 3, Sampton 2, Segovia 2, King, Mason, Wimbley). CS Fullerton 3 (Butler 2, Iwuoha). Blocked shots — Hawaii 8 (Morris 4, Karaitiana, Huff, Kuehu, Toeaina). CS Fullerton 1 (Tivenius). Technical fouls —  Hawaii none. UC Riverside none. Officials — Darren Krzesnik, Mark Munoz, Paul Patterson. A — 263.