After a lopsided loss to Pennsylvania to cap nonconference play, the Hawaii women’s basketball team resolved to attain consistency in the new year.

The Quakers of the Ivy League, off to their best start in program history at 9-1, rallied around freshman guard Kayla Padilla in defeating the Rainbow Wahine 70-55 in front of a New Year’s Eve gathering of 362 at the Stan Sheriff Center.

UH players walked out of the building for the last time in 2019 thinking they had as much or more to do with the lopsided outcome.

“We’ve got a lot to learn. I think we were outhustled and outplayed, which is something that can’t happen on a basketball court like that,” forward Amy Atwell said.

UH (6-7), which beat Power Five teams Texas and Washington during nonconference play, struggled during the holidays. The Wahine lost at Idaho 67-52 before Christmas, went their separate ways for a week on the mainland, then got drilled after reconvening in the islands.

Coach Laura Beeman didn’t think her team was in game shape and pointed the finger at herself.

“When we’ve put it together, we’ve been fun to watch. There’s been a lot of excitement along those lines,” Beeman said. “But when we don’t show up, it’s not fun to watch. It’s painful. It’s painful to coach. And I think that right now we’re a team that’s either very good or very bad.”

It started off well enough. UH jumped out to a mild lead as the Quakers opened 1-for-14 from the field, and Padilla, their star freshman from Orange County who was once recruited by the Wahine staff, missed her first six shots.

The Quakers applied more pressure on the glass and in the open court and led 17-13 after a quarter. They used another spurt going into halftime to lead 40-26 at the break.

Myrrah Joseph scored inside to get it within single digits in the third quarter, then put in a lefty banker to get it to 47-40.

But the relentless Padilla, who finished with 23 points on 23 shots, beat the third-quarter buzzer with a layup to extend the lead back to 51-40, then opened the fourth with a 3-pointer off the dribble.

That was effectively the ballgame.

“We’re scoring the ball at a better pace than we ever have, and a lot of that is because of her,” said Quakers coach Mike McLaughlin, who’s guided his program to six straight 20-win seasons.

Padilla came in second nationally among freshmen at 19.4 points per game.

“I thought she was great down the stretch,” McLaughlin said. “It’s pretty unique to go to your freshman late in need all the time, and she’s responded almost every time.”

UH had no consistent answer for her as she alternated drives and jumpers. Beeman thought her team was too unselfish at the other end, passing out of open looks.

Atwell, who scored a team-high 12, expressed frustration at her team’s lapses.

“It’s a matter of whether you weather their punch better than they weather yours,” she said. “We had a few punches going tonight, but we just couldn’t handle theirs.”

UH was denied its bid for its first winning nonconference record since 2017-18. The Wahine open Big West play at Cal State Northridge on Jan. 9.

Penn plays at Chaminade on Thursday.