The Hawaii women’s basketball team remained in Henderson, Nev., after its loss to UC San Diego in the Big West tournament semifinals to await its destination in the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.

That turned out to a wise decision, as UH was assigned to play its former and future conference opponent UNLV at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Rainbow Wahine players and staff reacted enthusiastically to the pairing, which requires minimal travel. UH (22-9) was assured a WBIT berth with its Big West regular-season championship.

“I think they're excited that we don't have to get on a plane tomorrow or Tuesday and fly someplace,” UH coach Laura Beeman told Hawaii media in a Zoom call. “I think right now, it's about trying to regroup, get our minds right, have some good practices … and try to win a ballgame.”

The Rebels (25-7), a UH rival in the Big West in the 1980s and BWC and WAC in the 1990s, fell to San Diego State in the Mountain West semifinals at the Thomas & Mack Center on Tuesday.

UH is set to join UNLV in the Mountain West in most of its sports, including women’s basketball, starting in the 2026-27 season.

Coach Lindy La Rocque's Rebels average more than 75 points per game compared to UH's 59.7 — they are ranked 42nd and 284 nationally in that statistic —and have outscored foes by an average margin of nearly 13 points per game. Nine players have hit 10 or more 3-pointers this season.

But UH's elite defense has held opponents to .333 percent shooting for the season, No. 2 in the land.

“I think it’s a winnable game if we show up,” Beeman said.

“I think we match up well against each other,” she added. “I think that our bigs, again, can play a factor in this game. I think Imani Perez is going to have a huge role in who and how she defends. They're going to apply some pressure to us. We're going to have to take care of the ball and be able to be better on offense than we were in the semifinals of our tournament (a 51-49 loss).”

UH has made a postseason tournament in nine of Beeman’s 13 seasons as coach, including four straight, and has been assigned a true road game each time. The Wahine are 0-8 in those postseason games heading into Thursday.

“It seems to be the first game is a little bit of an Achilles heel for us,” Beeman said. “It would be great for this group to do something special.”

The program last won a postseason game in 2001, when Vince Goo’s squad won three games to reach the WNIT semifinals.

UH is participating in the WBIT for the second straight year. The Wahine lost at Cal last year in the first edition of the NCAA-sponsored event that replaced the WNIT as the top option for teams that were not selected to the NCAA Tournament.

Beeman said her experience with the WBIT has surpassed that of the privately run WNIT.

The Wahine are one win from tying the program high of 23 of the Beeman era in 2014-15.

“We still have an opportunity to continue to play,” she said. “This team has done some really special things this year.”

Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at brian.mcinnis@charter.com.