Hawaii’s shooting touch was a late arrival to Titan Gym on Thursday.

In the meantime, the Rainbow Wahine basketball team’s defense kept it close until a fourth-quarter surge powered a 55-46 road win over Cal State Fullerton.

Hawaii forward Amy Atwell scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the second half and guard Olivia Davies tied her career high with 17 to help the Rainbow Wahine (11-8, 7-2 Big West) earn their fourth straight win heading into a showdown with Big West co-leader Long Beach State on Saturday.

Cal State Fullerton’s point total was the lowest allowed by Hawaii this season and the Wahine were able to win the front end of a road trip for the first time in the conference season.

“Wasn’t very pretty, but that was a good mark for us to accomplish and we needed it,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview. “So we definitely needed to grind that game out.”

UH completed a season sweep of the Titans (8-13, 3-8) despite shooting 28% from the field, including a 2-for-22 showing in the second quarter, and 59% from the free-throw line.

The Wahine held Fullerton to 32% shooting and converted 16 points off turnovers. They set a season high with 44 rebounds, with forward Kallin Spiller securing 12 and guard Daejah Phillips adding eight.

Beeman credited the defensive performance to the Wahine limiting their turnovers for most of the game and “just that we were a little bit more locked in and we really did a good job on the boards.”

“It definitely kept us in the game because we just couldn’t hit a shot and our free-throw shooting was terrible,” she said.

Davies scored six of UH’s first nine points and helped keep the Wahine close when Fullerton twice edged out to five-point leads in the third quarter. Along with tying the career scoring high she set a week earlier against UC Davis, Davies dished out a career-high five assists on Thursday.

“Just her composure, her ability to get past her defender and get to the basket and get to the free-throw line, find open players, she really played a solid game on both sides of the ball tonight,” Beeman said.

Fullerton’s defense shadowed Atwell throughout the first half and blanked the Big West’s leading scorer until she made two free throws with 2:18 left in the second quarter. She connected on a driving jumper early in the third quarter and converted a three-point play late in the period to cut Fullerton’s lead to 35-33.

Davies then tied it up with two free throws with 2.5 seconds left as the Wahine held Fullerton scoreless over the final 5:35 of the third quarter.

After ‘Iolani graduate Lily Wahinekapu gave Fullerton the lead with a jumper early in the fourth quarter, UH freshman Jacque David drained a 3-pointer to give UH a 38-37 lead. Fullerton edged back in front at 41-40, but Atwell answered with a driving layup, then hit her lone 3-pointer of the game. Kelsie Imai added another 3-pointer from the left corner to stretch the UH lead to 48-41 with 4:41 left.

“Jacque got the big 3, Kelsie got her big 3, Amy got her big 3 because we worked the ball as a team,” Beeman said. “It took us about 31⁄2 quarters to figure out — work the ball, move the ball and then we will have wide-open looks.”

Wahinekapu scored 10 of her 12 points in the first half and matched Carolyn Gill for team-high honors.

“Lily is such a skilled player for a freshman, and we had to have a gameplan for her,” Beeman said. “We made her work hard all night and she hit some really tough shots.”

Although the Wahine hadn’t yet returned to their hotel, Beeman and the UH coaching staff were already focused on Saturday’s game against Long Beach State at the Walter Pyramid. The first meeting between the teams was canceled due to COVID-19 issues and the Beach (16-3, 9-2) enter the game tied atop the conference with UC Irvine, with UH alone in third.

“You absolutely want to put yourself in the position that we’re going into Saturday,” Beeman said, “because this is tournament basketball and there’s nothing like experience to get you ready for the (Big West) tournament.”