Entering this week’s homestand, Laura Beeman praised her team’s ability to bounce back.

Resilience is an attribute the University of Hawaii women’s basketball team will have to tap into once again today when the Rainbow Wahine close a run of four games in eight days by taking on UC Riverside at 7 p.m. at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Along with the physical toll of the grueling schedule, the Rainbow Wahine will look to regroup and recharge after dropping an overtime duel with Big West leader UC Irvine on Thursday.

“We’re still going to be ready and focused in practice and not keep our heads down from this game,” UH guard Daejah Phillips said Thursday night. “We’ll see them again.”

While the Rainbow Wahine (6-10, 4-3 BWC) will get another shot at facing UC Irvine in late February — and possibly in the Big West tournament in March in Las Vegas — for the moment they’ll aim for a split of the homestand against visiting UC Riverside (4-14, 2-6).

UH slipped into fifth place in the Big West standings with Thursday’s loss, three games behind UC Irvine (7-0), with UC Santa Barbara, Long Beach State and UC San Diego just ahead at 5-2.

UH trailed by as many as 14 against the Anteaters and went into the fourth quarter down 44-33. The Wahine charged back and took a 52-51 lead with two minutes left. The lead lasted all of three seconds, but UH stretched the game into OT when Lily Wahinekapu made two free throws with 0.6 seconds left in regulation.

UC Irvine jumped ahead early in overtime and this time held off UH’s comeback bid.

“Sometimes we’re a tale of two teams, so we’ve got to play with that energy all the time,” Beeman said.

The Wahine extended their press in the final period, with Wahinekapu and Jovi Lefotu hounding UCI’s ballhandlers in the backcourt to help spur the comeback. While Beeman is wary of “burying kids’ legs in January,” she indicated the Wahine may turn to the press with greater frequency.

“I think that full-court pressure gave us a lot of juice and we have to use that,” Beeman said.

“So I think we need to do that more and we need to find some people that can be aggressive defensively and then hopefully we’re turning people over and can get to the basket. I definitely think it gave us a lot of energy.”

UC Riverside has dropped three straight and made the trip to Hawaii following a 60-48 loss to UC Davis at home on Thursday. Jordan Webster, the sister of former UH men’s basketball player Justin Webster, leads the Highlanders with 12 points per game.

>> Fans are encouraged to wear red for “Chinese New Year Celebration” night at the arena. The team will hold an autograph session after the game.

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Big West women’s basketball

At SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center

UC riverside (4-14, 2-6) vs. Hawaii (6-10, 4-3)

>> When: Today, 7 p.m.

>> TV: Spectrum Sports

>> Radio: KKEA, 1420-AM / 92.7-FM