LOS ANGELES >> A few minutes into practice on Friday, Hawaii’s Laura Beeman paused the workout to get the attention of the Rainbow Wahine.

“Real important,” the UH women’s coach said, “our guys won by 11.”

The Rainbow Wahine were on the court in Pauley Pavilion for their assigned practice time while the UH men finished off an upset of California in Spokane, Wash., earning the program’s first NCAA Tournament victory.

Beeman’s announcement drew a cheer from the players, who quickly locked back into preparing for their turn in the NCAA spotlight.

Big West champion Hawaii (21-10), the 14th seed in the Bridgeport Region, faces third seed and host UCLA (24-8) in a first-round game on Nell and John Wooden Court today at 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPN2, with the winner facing No. 6 South Florida (23-9) or No. 11 Colorado State (31-1) in the round of 32 on Monday.

The Wahine got their first look at Pauley Pavilion on Friday and took their allotted 90 minutes to work through their sets one more time while getting acclimated in the storied arena.

“At first they were a little bit nervous. … But once they worked through some things, practice looked really good,” Beeman said. “They were hitting shots, they locked in, they broke a sweat, they needed to run a little bit. Very happy with their focus and confidence right now.”

The Wahine earned the program’s sixth NCAA bid with a win over UC Davis a week ago in the Big West tournament championship game and will attempt to advance for the second time. UH won at Montana in the first round of the 1990 tournament and Vince Goo led the Wahine to three more appearances over the next eight years prior to an 18-year drought that ends today.

“I think any time you represent not only the university but your state, it’s amazing and that’s where Hawaii’s so unbelievably unique,” Beeman said in the press conference prior to practice.

“The history, it’s very important … but more than that it’s wearing Hawaii on your chest and feeling that sense of pride.”

To advance, the Wahine will have to make NCAA tournament history today.

As noted in a Twitter poll sent out by the NCAA on Selection Monday, No. 14 seeds entered the week 0-84 in the tournament. The Wahine will take their shot having won 11 of their past 12 heading into their fourth matchup with a nationally ranked team this season.

“They have our attention,” UCLA coach Cori Close said. “It’s not like we’re the first Power 5 team they’ve played. They’ve played a lot of really good competition. This is not going to be a surprise for them.

“I think they’re a very confident bunch. They’ve got a very veteran group, but I feel very prepared. It’s going to be about the players going out and executing a game plan.”

Today’s game will be a reunion of sorts for the leading scorers on both teams. UH senior Destiny King and UCLA sophomore guard Jordin Canada faced each other growing up in Southern California through high school.

“It’s been since elementary (school) I’ve played against her,” King said.

Canada averages 16.1 points and fuels the Pac-12’s highest-scoring offense (74.4 points per game) with a league-high 5.87 assists. She’s also second in the conference with 2.4 steals per game. Senior guard Nirra Fields, the fourth-leading scorer in UCLA history, follows with 15.7 points and 2.2 steals.

“It starts for us on defense, I think that’s just the main thing. That’s what gets our offense going,” Canada said.

Defense has powered UH’s late-season run as well, with the Wahine holding opponents to 55.8 points per game in Big West play.

King leads the Wahine with 10.5 points per game, followed by sophomore center Megan Huff’s 9.4 off the bench. UH is shooting 30 percent from 3-point range, but outside scoring helped spur its Big West tournament run with 18 in two games. Marissa Wimbley hit a school-record six against Long Beach State and Ashleigh Karaitiana five against UC Davis.

“We respect Hawaii, their versatility,” Close said. “They just have a lot of people who can hurt you in a lot of different ways.”