HENDERSON, Nev. >>Dancing with the stars aligned?

Maybe it was the free-flowing team meetings, or the belief destiny beats adversity, or the player affectionately known as “Big Dawg” at her best in her home city.

But in Saturday’s title game in the Dollar Loan Center, the Hawaii women’s basketball team overcame a 15-point halftime deficit and UC Santa Barbara’s physical play for a 61-59 victory and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

By scoring 11 of the game’s final 13 points, the Rainbow Wahine won the Big West Tournament for the second year in a row to claim a hana hou ticket to the Big Dance. The Wahine will learn their NCAA Tournament opponent and game site today. The selection show will air at 2 p.m. on ESPN.

“These kids are resilient,” said coach Laura Beeman, her eyes moistened with emotion. “They never stopped believing in each other. They never stopped believing in our process. And this is what happens.”

UCSB took a 59-58 lead when Alexis Tucker hit two free throws with 6.4 seconds to go.

UH called consecutive timeouts to set up the final play. In front of the UH bench, Daejah Phillips inbounded to Imani Perez to the left of the lane. Phillips circled, took a slip pass from Perez, and drove for the go-ahead layup with 3.4 seconds left. On the play, Alexis Whitfield fouled Phillips, who made the free throw for a 61-59 lead.

The outcome was sealed when Anya Choice’s shot would not fall as time expired, triggering the Wahine’s on-court celebration.

“We call Daejah ‘Big Dawg,’ ” guard Kelsie Imai said. “Daejah’s ready to play in any big moment. Big plays? That’s for ‘Big Dawg’ Daejah.”

Of the decisive play, Phillips said she was told by the coaches “they were going to overplay me, and to slip to the basket. That’s exactly what I did, and it paid off.”

Phillips, who was born and reared in neighboring Las Vegas, said: “My whole family was here. All my nieces and nephews. It really does mean a lot.”

“I’m so happy we won,” said guard Lily Wahinekapu, who scored 19 points, including hitting three 3s in the final quarter. “I can’t put it into words.”

The Gauchos powered their way to a 38-23 lead at the intermission. In a deflating second quarter, the Wahine missed 11 of 15 shots, including all five launched from behind the arc. For the Wahine, who had lost four key players to season-ending injuries and faded in close games until correcting with an air-it-out meeting, the 15-point deficit was just another challenge.

“We were down at halftime last year, and that’s where experience really comes in,” forward Kallin Spiller said. “We went into that locker room and had the same regrouping mentality, and talked about how we were going to stay together through adversity. That’s what this team had done all season — on the court, off the court — we stuck together.”

Phillips said: “We just kind of talked ourselves through it. We were only down by six possessions. ‘We’re good, let’s go.’ We believed in each other. We believed in the process.”

After being assessed a second foul with 1:49 left in the first quarter, Phillips did not play the rest of the half. “Hard,” Beeman said of the decision to keep a prolific scorer on the bench. “It wasn’t that I thought she was going to pick up a defensive foul. Daejah has this heart of a lion, and my concern was she was going to get going offensively and, maybe, take a charge. As long as we kept the game manageable, I knew we’d have her in the second half, we’d bring her back.”

“They were saving my legs for the end,” said Phillips, who scored 13 second-half points, including 11 on 4-for-6 shooting in the fourth quarter.

With UH trailing 57-50, freshman post Perez swished a 3 from the left corner.

“I was yelling to her to get her shot ready because she was going to shoot it,” Beeman said of Perez, who attempted only 14 3-point shots in the previous 31 games.

Perez said.: “If it’s open, I might as well shoot it. I’m shot ready. Been practicing the 3s. If I’m shot ready, I’m shot ready.”

Soon after, Perez got the ball in the lane, and pitched it to Wahinekapu, whose 3 from the right corner closed it 57-56 with 2:05 to play.

“Beautiful pass,” Beeman said. “Bounced it on the deep corner. All game long we’ve been trying to find shooters and turn things around.”

Of the 3-pointer, Wahinekapu said: “Nothing was going through my mind. I was just focusing on my technique and making the shot.”

Wahinekapu’s layup off a drive gave the Wahine their first lead since 4-2, and set up the final sequences.

After defeating Long Beach State in the semifinals, Beeman booked flights to Henderson for four injured players. “To have them experience this is phenomenal,” Beeman said.

Imai said: “It was all part of the plan. We knew if we were going to the championships, Coach B was going to fly out our injured players. I remember a couple weeks ago, when we had to find our focus, I told the team: ‘If we can’t play with them, let’s play for them.’”

At the start of the season, the Wahine had a ceremony to pass out the rings commemorating last year’s NCAA appearance. Wahinekapu, who transferred in July after one season at Cal State Fullerton, was among the first-year Wahine who instead received Ring Pops. According to Beeman, Wahinekapu said: “Save it. I want the real (ring).”

On Saturday, that wish came true.