A year after Hawaii swept three meetings with UC Irvine on its way to capturing the Big West women’s basketball titles, the Anteaters strengthened their claim as this season’s favorite with an overtime win over the host Rainbow Wahine on Thursday night.

But UC Irvine’s 71-67 win at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center came at a hefty cost and the Anteaters emerged with the victory only after the Rainbow Wahine erased an 11-point deficit entering the fourth quarter.

UH guard Lily Wahinekapu made two free throws with 0.6 seconds left in regulation to tie the game 56-56. But UC Irvine scored the first six points of the extra period and held off the Wahine to remain undefeated in conference play.

“I’m very, very proud of this team. They could have quit and they didn’t,” UH coach Laura Beeman said. “We had great fight, particularly in that fourth quarter. I want to see that fight from the beginning and we’re going to try to figure that out, but I think these guys grew up a lot tonight.”

UC Irvine guard Hunter Hernandez scored a game-high 19 points, guard Diaba Konate added 14 and guard Amelia Scharpf finished with 13, including a pivotal 3-pointer that gave the Anteaters a 65-60 lead with 38 seconds left in overtime.

The Anteaters (15-3, 7-0 Big West) overcame the loss of guard Olivia Williams to a gruesome knee injury in the first quarter to win the rematch of last year’s Big West tournament final.

Thursday’s game was delayed for about 10 minutes after Williams went down with the injury on a collision in the paint with 3:49 left in the first quarter. Williams was tended to by training staffs from both teams as UCI coaches consoled her as she lay on the court in the lane. Her leg was encased in an aircast and she was helped from the floor.

UC Irvine coach Tamara Inoue hustled out of the arena after the game to check on Williams at a local hospital.

“You never want to see a young lady go down like she did,” Beeman said. “Prayers are definitely with her and her recovery. I give a lot of credit to Irvine for staying focused and being able to work through that. That says a lot about Tamara as a coach and that group and what their focus is. They’re on a mission and you can tell.”

UH guard Daejah Phillips led four Rainbow Wahine players in double figures with 13 points. Wahinekapu scored all 12 of her points after halftime and grabbed a season-high eight rebounds. Forward Nnenna Orji helped spark the comeback with 12 points off the bench and forward Kallin Spiller finished with 10 points.

But the Rainbow Wahine (6-10, 4-3) were hampered by 1-for-18 shooting from 3-point range and a 16-for-27 performance from the free-throw line.

“We normally shoot well from the free-throw line. I was shocked by how badly we shot,” Beeman said.

Phillips was scoreless going into the fourth quarter with UH trailing 44-33. But she opened the period by scoring on a drive while drawing a foul and converted the three-point play to trigger a 12-3 run.

The Wahine went 7-for-11 from the field and 9-for-12 from the free-throw line to outscore UCI 23-12 in the period and extend the game.

“I went into big-dog mode,” Phillips said. “I knew we needed to gain energy and get going.”

UC Irvine scored the first six points of OT, with Konate hitting a jumper in the lane to beat the shot clock and give UCI a 62-56 lead. UH closed to 62-60 before Scharpf drained a 3-pointer from the top with 38 seconds left.

Phillips again completed a three-point play after a drive to bring UH to within two with 25 seconds left. But the Anteaters managed to hold on from the free-throw line.

The Rainbow Wahine close the homestand on Saturday against UC Riverside. The Highlanders (4-14, 2-6) lost to UC Davis 60-48 on Thursday before making the trip to Honolulu.