A closing surge led by a sophomore provided a rousing start to Hawaii’s senior night festivities.

UH guard Lily Wahinekapu scored 13 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter and the Rainbow Wahine basketball team capped the regular season with a 68-58 win over UC Santa Barbara before a crowd of 1,456 on Saturday at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

Wahinekapu tied her season high to lead four UH players in double figures and the Rainbow Wahine (15-14, 13-7) claimed the third seed in this week’s Big West tournament while moving over .500 overall for the first time this season.

“She’s a gamer,” UH coach Laura Beeman said of Wahinekapu. “This is her home, so there wasn’t anybody that was going to take this game away from Lily.

“She does everything so quiet and just with a lot of humility, but she took that game over and that was beautiful to see.”

Wahinekapu transferred to UH after playing her freshman season at Cal State Fullerton and her performance on Saturday helped set up a third matchup against her former team this season.

UH, which began the season 1-7 in nonconference play, will face sixth-seeded Cal State Fullerton (14-15, 9-11) in a quarterfinal game at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Dollar Loan Center.

UC Santa Barbara (19-11, 12-8) fell to the fifth seed and will face fourth-seed UC Davis (16-13, 12-7) at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Forward Kallin Spiller hit two 3-pointers and finished with 12 points in her final home game and was honored with guard McKenna Haire in the senior night ceremony following the win.

“Right as the buzzer sounded I let a tear fall because I’m never going to have this experience again,” Spiller said. “I’ve been so thankful to play in the Stan and be able to have so much fun and give the fans one last win and that was a really important one for us.”

Haire watched UH’s run to the BWC tournament title from the bench last year after suffering a season-ending foot injury and got the start on Saturday to help the send the Wahine into the tournament with momentum.

“The Dollar Loan Center is just a really fun place to play and I was really jealous of my teammates at the time that didn’t get to be on the court,” Haire said. “They got the job done last year and I’m going to be grateful and excited to be with them on the court this year.”

Spiller’s second 3-pointer gave UH a 54-48 lead with 5:27 left in the fourth quarter and the Wahine maintained at least a six-point cushion the rest of the way. They earned a split of the season series with UCSB, which rallied from a 20-point deficit in the second half in a 72-69 win on Jan. 26 at the Thunderdome in Santa Barbara.

“If you want to win in a tournament, you’ve got to keep leads and you’ve got to close games out,” Beeman said. “I’m super excited that they showed up here tonight and that’s exactly what they did.”

Freshman center Imani Perez added 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds and Daejah Phillips finished with 11 points.

UH committed a season-low six turnovers while forcing 19 from UCSB and opened up a 20-1 advantage in points off of turnovers.

UCSB guard Anya Choice hit four 3-pointers in a 9-for-14 shooting performance and posted a game-high 23 points before fouling out in the final minute.

Alexis Tucker, who sparked the Gauchos’ comeback in the first meeting, drained two 3-pointers while going 3-for-3 from the field in an 11-point first quarter. The Wahine limited her to seven points over the next 30 minutes.

Tucker went to the bench with her second foul at the 5:11 mark of the second quarter and the Wahine held the Gauchos to just five points in the period while closing with an 8-0 run to take a 29-23 lead into halftime.

UH saw a 35-30 lead disappear in a single possession in the third quarter. UH’s Meilani McBee was called for a foul on Alyssa Marin’s shot then picked up a technical foul. Marin hit four free throws, UCSB retained possession and took the lead on Callie Cooper’s jumper.

UH went on an 8-2 run late in the quarter with Perez twice scoring on putbacks and the Wahine took a 46-43 lead into the final period.

With UH clinging to a 49-48 edge, Spiller’s 3-pointer off an assist from Wahinekapu contributed to a 7-0 run.

“I was really glad that one went in and I felt it,” Spiller said. “It was a great pass from Lily and that was one of those moments that sent us over the edge toward victory.”

Wahinekapu converted a steal into a layup to give UH a 59-50 lead with 2:46 left and went 9-for-12 from the free-throw line in the quarter to help seal the win.

UC Irvine (24-5, 16-2), which canceled two games three weeks ago due to a lack of healthy players, claimed the regular-season title and the top seed in the tournament with a 59-48 win at CSU Bakersfield.

The seedings were determined by winning percentage and UCI jumped past Long Beach State (22-8, 17-3), which had its 15-game winning streak snapped in a 65-56 loss to UC Davis at the Walter Pyramid.

The tournament opens on Tuesday with two first-round games. Seventh seeded Cal Poly faces 10th-seed UC Riverside and Cal State Northridge and CSUB meet in the 8-9 game.