A trip to Texas for an appearance in the NCAA Tournament spoke to how far the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team had progressed over the past four-plus months.

Shortly after a loss to Baylor, the talk turned to the ground the Rainbow Wahine want to cover leading into next season.

“Obviously we would have loved to win, we would have loved to go further, but this is the first step for this program, getting back to the tournament,” UH forward Kallin Spiller said in the press conference following Friday’s 89-49 loss to the host Bears in the Ferrell Center.

“Hawaii basketball is on the rise, and I think this is the first step.”

Thoughts of the next steps came soon after the Rainbow Wahine completed an ascent to the summit of the Big West and represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.

Those might have seemed like lofty aspirations back in November when the Wahine — voted fourth and fifth in the Big West’s preseason polls — opened the season with blowout losses at San Diego and Southern Cal.

Out of the growing pains of a 3-6 nonconference showing to close 2021 came a 17-4 surge spanning from early January through mid-March. Along the way, the Wahine established 2022 as a landmark year in program history as the first team to pair the Big West regular-season and tournament championships.

Having planted that flag, they’ll look to continue their climb while following the example of their lone senior night honoree.

>> PHOTOS: Hawaii vs. Baylor

With the loss to second-seeded Baylor — which faces South Dakota today in the round of 32 — forward Amy Atwell ended her career as the program’s most prolific long-range shooter and among the elite scorers to wear a UH uniform. She punctuated her six-year career with a 29-point, 13-rebound performance highlighted by the final six of her 205 career 3-pointers.

Atwell’s 20-point first-half performance kept the Wahine within shouting distance of Baylor before the Bears roared away with a 34-8 run in the third quarter.

Atwell progressed from the Big West’s top reserve in 2020 to a second-team all-conference pick last season. After dedicating her offseason to improving her conditioning in preparation for her final run, she was a clear choice for Big West Player of the Year as the league’s leading scorer.

Along with accomplishing her goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament, Atwell said this season’s postseason run was “for every girl that’s returning for the next year and this experience and building off of that.

“They have an unimaginable ceiling next year, and I’m excited to see what they do and where they go. It’s just about laying that foundation.”

Spiller, who had 10 points and seven rebounds on Friday, has another year of eligibility remaining as a graduate transfer and the Wahine started three “COVID freshmen” — guards Kelsie Imai, Daejah Phillips and Olivia Davies — for much of the season.

UH coach Laura Beeman distributed playing time among 10 players who averaged at least 14 minutes per game, giving the Wahine greater depth of returning experience compared to the season following the 2016 NCAA Tournament appearance at UCLA.

Beeman said the returnees had already turned their focus forward in the locker room following Friday’s game as a 15th seed taking on a Baylor team considered a contender for the national title.

“I think what they have learned beyond getting here is what does it take to get here and when,” Beeman said. “And we had some great conversation after the game today. ‘I’ve got to get in the gym. I’ve got to get in the weight room. I’ve got to get more shots up. I’ve got to go harder. I wasn’t used to that pace, that speed.

“They talked about doing better in preseason so we can get a higher seed. … So to hear them processing not just the frustration of the third period but ‘this is what we now need to do’ was very encouraging.”

The returnees are set to be joined by a recruiting class that includes ‘Iolani guard Jovi Wahinekapu Lefotu, the Star-Advertiser All-State Player of the Year. UH also signed Imani Perez, a 6-foot-4 forward, and 6-foot forward Avery Watkins.

“We lose Amy, which is a huge, huge piece,” Beeman said. “But we bring everybody else back, and we have some good recruits coming in, so the future is bright.”