The Hawaii women’s basketball team feasted Saturday against Cal State Northridge by “feeding off of one another.”

Daejah Phillips scored 12 points, Kelsie Imai added 11 and Lily Wahinekapu had 10 and Hawaii went on a 29-2 run over a 12:10 span to rout Cal State Northridge 67-38 before 865 at SimpliFi Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.

The Rainbow Wahine scored the final 12 points of the first half, then outscored the Matadors 17-2 in the third quarter to turn the game into a rout.

“Feeding off of one another,” said Hawaii post player Brooklyn Rewers, who scored nine points. “We got 13 stops in a row. So being able to convert off of those — and we played off the energy we give to each other from the bench people and those on the court — really feeds into that.”

Hawaii (6-6, 3-0 Big West) took over first place in the Big West by a half-game over UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly, all of which are 3-1.

The Rainbow Wahine also are off to their first 3-0 conference start since the 2001-02 season, when the school was a member of the Western Athletic Conference.

Hawaii allowed a season low in points for the second consecutive game. The Rainbow Wahine defeated Cal State Bakersfield 67-43 on Thursday.

“Much better second half. Much better than the first half,” said coach Laura Beeman. “The first half wasn’t bad, but we just had to grind it out a little bit. The second half, our defensive intensity improved drastically which generates some offense for us.”

Cal State Northridge (2-11, 0-3 Big West) has lost 11 consecutive games, with the average margin of defeat at 25.3 points per game. Hawaii has won six straight over Cal State Northridge.

The Rainbow Wahine grabbed a season-high 43 rebounds and have won the battle of the boards in each Big West contest. The Matadors had 34 rebounds.

Hawaii was outrebounded by each of its nonconference opponents, including three from the Pac-12, with a minus-10.1 margin. The Rainbow Wahine are plus-9.7 in Big West play.

“I’ve always been a firm believer that rebounds win championships,” Beeman said. “Offense is the fun part. We have to rebound the ball. It takes possessions away, it gives you more opportunities if we choose to run the floor. We’re still not the rebounding team we need to be.”

Hawaii employed a 2-2-1 three-quarter-court press before dropping into a man-to-man.

The Matadors finished 16-for-59 from the field

Rewers scored the first six points for the Rainbow Wahine, who took a 10-4 lead with 4:53 left in the first quarter.

Hawaii then went 4:19 without a field goal as Cal State Northridge got within 12-11 with under one minute to play in the frame.

Hawaii missed its first six 3-point attempts before Rewers hit one to give her team a 20-15 advantage with 6:42 remaining before halftime.

The Matadors tied it 20-20 on Laney Amundsen’s layup with 4:54 left before the Rainbow Wahine scored 12 in a row to end the half. Phillips scored eight points during the surge on a pair of 3-pointers and two technical-foul free throws.

Rewers and Phillips each scored nine points, and Wahinekapu added seven for the Rainbow Wahine in the first half. The trio made eight of 15 field-goal attempts, while their teammates went 3-for-17.

Cal State Northridge went 9-for-29 from the field, including 1-for-8 from 3-point range, before halftime.

The Rainbow Wahine’s 17-2 run in the third put them up 49-22. The final 15 points of the run came on three 3-pointers by Meilani McBee and one each by Phillips and Wahinekapu.

“It starts with our defense at times,” Beeman said. “In the first half, I don’t think we were shot-ready. The shots weren’t bad. We just weren’t ready to shoot them. That’s why you miss the shots you think you can make. In the second half, everyone was engaged and locked in.”

The Matadors went 1 of 15 from the field in the third.

Hawaii walk-on guard Hallie Birdsong scored the first points of her career on a short jumper with 25 seconds remaining, which drew a huge ovation from the UH bench and crowd.

“I was in shock. I didn’t smile until I looked at the bench and said, ‘Oh, my gosh, I actually made that shot,’” Birdsong said.

In the second half, the Rainbow Wahine shot 7-for-16 from 3-point range. They made 10 3-pointers for the game.

Hawaii will next play road games against UC Irvine on Thursday and UC Riverside on Saturday.