New year, old story.

Late in the second quarter of Thursday’s conference home opener, the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team appeared poised to break UC San Diego’s hex in their Big West series.

But when the final buzzer sounded in SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center, the Tritons celebrated a victory over the Rainbow Wahine for a a third straight meeting.

After going scoreless for 30 minutes, UC San Diego guard Julia Macabuhay scored 11 points in the fourth quarter — including a go-ahead 3 pointer with 2:40 left — and the Tritons erased an 18-point second-quarter deficit on their way to a 60-57 victory before a crowd of 494.

The loss was UH’s first against Big West competition since Macabuhay hit a last-second shot in a 62-60 win in the Tritons’ visit to Manoa last Feb. 17 to sweep the season series against the eventual conference champion Rainbow Wahine.

“They got our number,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “They’re better than us and we have to figure that out before we see them one more time in conference (and) if we see them in the (Big West) tournament.”

The Rainbow Wahine went on a 17-0 run to open the second quarter and led 32-14 with less than three minutes left in the half.

UH sent 14 players into the game in the first half and the Wahine cooled off while the Tritons ended the second quarter with a six-point surge to cut the Wahine lead to 32-20 going into halftime.

UCSD guard Sydney Brown built on the momentum by draining three 3-pointers while scoring 13 of her team-high 18 points in the third quarter and the Tritons charged back to take the lead late in the period. Brown also had 13 rebounds in a double-double performance and finished 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

“We talked at halftime about them being a third-quarter team and they absolutely came out and punched us in the mouth and we never recovered,” Beeman said.

“I will take responsibility for emptying the bench at the end of the first half — shouldn’t have done it. Thought that we had enough lead and enough experience that that wouldn’t have affected us, but I think it did. … I think it killed our mojo a little. We just have to get better on both sides of the ball.”

The speedy 5-foot-6 Macabuhay, who spent much of the first three quarters on the bench with foul trouble, then sparked the Tritons in the fourth and her lone 3-pointer of the game gave UCSD the lead for good.

“I just tried to do my best, do whatever for this team, whether I’m making shots or not, just getting in the paint, creating for myself or for others. Just anything I can do to help this team win,” Macabuhay said.

UH guard Daejah Phillips finished with a game-high 19 points and forward Jacque David finished with 14, each hitting three 3-pointers for the Rainbow Wahine (4-8, 2-1).

Trailing 59-54, David hit a 3-pointer to keep UH within striking distance with 17.2 seconds left. The Tritons went 1-for-4 from the free throw line to give the Wahine a final shot to tie with 1.6 seconds left, but David’s shot from the corner bounced off the rim at the buzzer to snap UH’s three-game winning streak.

The Rainbow Wahine conclude their homestand on Saturday against Cal State Fullerton. The Titans (6-6, 1-2), led by coach and Hawaii Baptist Academy graduate Jeff Harada, defeated UC Riverside 51-42 earlier Thursday.