It wasn’t the prettiest performance, but the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team’s last meeting against Cal State Fullerton now represents a turning point for the Rainbow Wahine.

The Wahine were sixth in the Big West at 3-3 when they faced the Titans on Jan. 28 at the Stan Sheriff Center. They muddled through the first three quarters and trailed with 6:50 left before senior Destiny King powered UH to a 62-53 win.

Thus began a six-game winning streak that has the Wahine alone in second place entering today’s rematch at Cal State Fullerton’s Titan Gym.

The Wahine (16-9, 9-3 Big West) will look to extend the streak against a Fullerton team that snapped a 24-game skid last week. They’ll continue the road trip with a matchup against first-place UC Riverside (20-7, 13-0) on Saturday.

UC Riverside clinched a share of the regular-season title with an 84-62 win at CSUN on Wednesday. UH enters today’s play a half-game ahead of Long Beach State (9-4), which edged Cal Poly 61-56.

Although the Wahine will face teams on opposite ends of the standings, UH coach Laura Beeman is confident their focus won’t prematurely drift to Saturday.

“Fullerton is always a tough place for us to play, they’re a tough team for us to play. It seems they always show up ready to play against us and if we overlook them they’ll beat us,” Beeman said. “We have to execute our game plan and keep our focus completely on them Thursday night and then deal with Riverside Friday and Saturday.”

The Wahine departed Wednesday morning on their final road trip of the regular season after playing two games in a two-week homestand. After climbing into second with wins over Long Beach State and UC Davis the last two Thursdays, the challenge is to hold on to that spot and the accompanying double-bye in the Big West tournament.

“I think the girls are very ready to get on the road and continue to play well,” Beeman said.

“The focus is continuing to play better basketball. We need to continue to grow, continue to get better in some areas. … Playing on the road is tough and we’re going to find out where we are as far as our growth in this next road trip.”

Cal State Fullerton (3-24, 1-12) is led by freshman forward Michelle Berry, who posted 22 points and 16 rebounds against UH in the first meeting and ranks among the conference leaders with 14.7 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

King continues to lead a balanced UH attack with 10.4 points per game, followed by forward Megan Huff at 9.2. The Wahine also rank first in the league in scoring defense, allowing 58.9 points per game.