Consider the hex broken.

For 20 minutes on Thursday, UC San Diego appeared poised to continue its mastery of its women’s basketball series with Hawaii. Instead, the Rainbow Wahine pulled off a stunning reversal to erase a 14-point halftime deficit and earn a 61-58 breakthrough victory at Liontree Arena in La Jolla, Calif.

UH’s first win over UCSD in four meetings nearly mirrored the Tritons’ victory in Manoa on Jan. 5, when they rallied from an 18-point second-quarter deficit in a 60-57 win over the Wahine.

“They’d gotten us three times in a row, and the last time they got us with that comeback was one that just got us in the feels,” UH coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview. “So to get down at their place and keep their composure and be able to make some adjustments at halftime, I’m just incredibly proud of the team basketball this team played tonight.”

UH shot 23% from the field in a ragged first half in which UCSD opened up a 16-point margin before UH guard Lily Wahinekapu converted a steal into a layup just before the buzzer.

Kelsie Imai’s 3-pointer to open the third quarter set the tone for a second half in which the Wahine went 17-for-30 (57%) from the field, including a 6-for-9 performance from behind the arc.

With UCSD ahead 43-30 with 3:35 left in the third quarter, UH guard Ashley Thoms hit two 3-pointers to spark an 11-0 run to end the period. Imai hit another 3-pointer to give the Wahine their first lead of the game at 48-47 with 8:13 left in the fourth quarter.

Thoms set a career high with her third 3-pointer to give UH a 53-49 lead with just under seven minutes to play. After UCSD guard Sydney Brown’s 3-pointer brought the Tritons within a point, Thoms found Daejah Phillips for a layup to push UH ahead 61-58 lead with 1:41 left.

The final 39 seconds were played on UCSD’s side of the court and the Tritons saw four shots come up empty and UH (10-12, 8-5 Big West) won back-to-back games for the first time since the opening week of conference play.

Wahinekapu and forward Kallin Spiller led the Wahine with 12 points each and Thoms and Imai both hit three 3-pointers to finish with identical totals of nine points, six rebounds and three assists.

Thoms entered the game 3-for-20 on 3-pointers this season and UCSD’s defense gave her room to shoot while looking to contain UH’s other threats.

“All we’ve told the girls is keep working on being ready to shoot the ball and being confident to let it go,” Beeman said. “Ashley’s continued to work on that shot. She shot the ball really well the last couple days and no time like the present than to show up and hit some big ones for us tonight.”

Thoms’ rebounding and assist totals were also her UH career highs, and Spiller added nine rebounds and four assists, most coming on passes from the post to 3-point shooters.

“Inside-outside touches were huge and Kelsie and Ashley came up big on inside-outside kicks and being shot ready,” Beeman said.

Wahinekapu scored in double figures for the eighth straight game, but Beeman highlighted her non-scoring contributions to the comeback.

“What Lily did just outstanding for us tonight was stay composed, keep us in an offense, keep the ball moving,” Beeman said. “She was tremendous in every area that doesn’t show up on the stat line.”

Meilani McBee finished with five points while drawing the defensive assignment on Brown, who led UCSD with 18 points and 13 rebounds in the first meeting.

Brown scored 10 points with two 3-pointers in the first quarter on Thursday, but added just five more points over the final 30 minutes.

“Meilani McBee played 37 minutes and played the majority of the time on Sydney Brown,” Beeman said. “For Meilani to have the game she had defensively was very impressive.”

UCSD guard Emily Cangelosi finished with 14 points and eight rebounds. Guard Julia Macabuhay, who bedeviled UH in previous meetings, was held to six points on 3-for-11 shooting for the Tritons (11-12, 8-5).

The Wahine tied UCSD for fourth in the Big West and cap their road trip at Cal State Fullerton (10-12, 5-8) on Saturday.