After sweeping a homestand last week, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team heads into a gym where wins have been elusive over the years.

Actually, the Rainbow Wahine have yet to record a victory in Cal Poly’s Mott Athletic Center in the series with the Mustangs. UH is 0-4 on the San Luis Obispo, Calif., campus, starting with a six-point loss 1982 and three more defeats by five points or fewer each of the past three seasons.

The next opportunity at a breakthrough comes today when the Wahine (12-9, 5-3 Big West) visit Cal Poly (10-10, 3-4) in a conference matchup. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. Hawaii time.

“They play incredibly hard, they’re talented, they’re well-coached. I would say they probably feel they have our number a bit, particularly at their place,” UH coach Laura Beeman said.

“It’s always a close game, it’s always a battle. We’re going to have to execute because they know what buttons to push on us a little bit.”

Following today’s game, the Wahine continue to UC Santa Barbara to take on the Gauchos on Saturday.

UH climbed into fourth place in the conference standings with home wins over Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine last week at the Stan Sheriff Center. A place in the top four at the end of the regular season comes with a bye in the first round of the Big West tournament and the top two receive a pass into the semifinals. UC Riverside has opened up some separation at the top at 6-0 followed by Long Beach State and UC Davis at 5-2 with UH just behind.

“Going on the road after two home victories, really great crowd on Saturday, we definitely have momentum,” Beeman said. “I think the girls feel like if we’re not in our stride, we’re close to hitting it. Now it’s just continuing to get better.

“This isn’t a make-or-break road trip by any means. It’s an exciting one, it’s a fun one, it’s a challenging one.”

UH played most of the past two games without senior center Kalei Adolpho after she took a hard shot to the face early against Cal State Fullerton. Adolpho participated in non-contact drills in practice early in the week, but Beeman said her status remains day-to-day.

Sophomore forward Megan Huff made her first start of the season against UC Irvine and led UH with 15 points to raise her season average to 9.3 points per game, just behind team leader Destiny King’s 10 ppg. The Wahine held UCI to 35 points in last Saturday’s win and are giving up a league-low 57.3 points per game in conference play.

UH snapped a five-game losing streak against Cal Poly with a win in Manoa last season and the Mustangs enter today’s game led by forward Hannah Gilbert. The 6-foot-3 junior ranks fifth in the conference in scoring at 13.4 points per game while shooting 52.4 percent and is first with 9.5 rebounds. The Mustangs also feature two of the conference’s top 3-point shooters in Beth Balbierz and Lisa Marie Sanchez.

Cal Poly is looking to bounce back after dropping its past three games to the top teams in the standings.