At halftime, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team was way behind on the boards, and that translated to trailing on the scoreboard.

“Rebounds matter,” UH coach Laura Beeman said matter-of-factly, after the Rainbow Wahine improved significantly at the dirty work following the break and caught, passed and then withstood a late rally by visiting Loyola Marymount for a 76-63 win on Sunday.

Hawaii improved to 3-5 and LMU fell to 2-5.

A gathering of around 125 spectators at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center also saw sharpshooter Amy Atwell recover from missing her first six shots to lead all with 24 points — including a seven-point spree in the third quarter that turned a 31-29 deficit into a 38-33 lead and was the first of two key stretches where she put UH back in control.

“I’m not going to stop shooting,” said Atwell. Not that anyone wants her to — it’s always just a matter of time for her to heat up, and on Sunday she had a stretch of seven makes in a row once she got going.

The Lions rallied midway through the fourth quarter and led 57-55 after Ariel Johnson’s layup, but then Atwell responded with the final of her three 3-point bombs, and UH never trailed again.

On Hawaii’s next trip down the court after Atwell grabbed a missed LMU layup, Nae Nae Calhoun authored a rare five-point sequence. Following a tough layup, she missed her and-one free throw. But Calhoun rebounded her own miss, and hit from beyond the arc. Just like that, 58-57 had become 63-57.

Those were three of UH’s 13 second-chance points generated by 10 offensive boards.

“The girls had a little conversation at halftime,” Beeman said, after they were outrebounded 22-13 in the first two quarters. UH finished with 34 total boards to 33 for the visitors.

“We have to rebound by committee,” Beeman said, and that was indeed the case as six players controlled at least four misses. Olivia Davies, back from injury, led with six in her 24 minutes of play. Davies also scored six points.

Calhoun was money from the line down the stretch. She finished with 12 points, six assists and four boards — and just two turnovers in 25 minutes at the point.

“We had that little lull in the fourth quarter, but we were able to turn it around,” Beeman said.

While Atwell was slow getting started, Hawaii stayed in the game offensively with hustle and strong low post efforts, especially from Daejah Phillips, who had eight of her 13 points in the first half — almost all from point-blank range or the free-throw line.

Johnson led LMU with 22 points. Her straightaway 3-pointer tied the score at 10 after one quarter. And Cassandra Gordon’s jumper as time ran down in the first half gave the Lions their 29-27 lead.

This was UH’s final home nonconference game. The Wahine play on the road at UNLV on Dec. 21, and start conference play Dec. 30 at UC Riverside and Jan. 1 at UC Davis. They’re next home game is Jan. 6 against Long Beach State.

On one more very important note, concession stands reopened at the Sheriff Center on Sunday.