For a brief moment, the No. 1 seed Hawaii women’s basketball team was on the verge of a historic comeback in the Big West Women’s Basketball Championship.

The Rainbow Wahine held possession in the waning seconds of a fourth quarter that began with UH trailing No. 4 seed UC San Diego by 18 points at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nev.

Attempting to complete the largest come-from-behind victory in tournament history, Hawaii instead was on the receiving end of another March gut punch.

UC San Diego guard Sumayah Sugapong took an inbounds pass from halfcourt with six seconds remaining and drove into the lane, completing a tough layup with her left hand with 0.2 seconds on the clock to give the Tritons a 51-49 victory over the Rainbow Wahine and send UC San Diego into today’s championship game against UC Davis.

Hawaii (22-9), which had won five straight against the Tritons (19-15), went one-and-done in the conference tournament for the second consecutive season as the No. 1 seed.

It had a chance to take the lead with 10 seconds remaining, but instead turned the ball over. It brought flashbacks to last year, when UH missed two free throws with roughly the same amount of time left that would have given it the lead.

Instead, it’s another brutal loss for a team that had NCAA Tournament aspirations once again.

“I think they had a great gameplan. I think their kids came out incredibly loose in the first half, hit shots like crazy. I have not seen too many teams hit shots like that,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said. “Tale of two halves. Came down to one shot at the end. We couldn’t get a stop, they scored.”

After the Tritons took over possession with 10 seconds remaining, UH guard Lily Wahinekapu had a ball go off her foot and out of bounds, allowing the Tritons to keep the ball with six seconds remaining.

UH had a foul to give, but never did as Sugapong took the inbounds pass and did all of the work herself, finishing in the lane against 6-foot-5 UH center Ritorya Tamilo.

“We talked about giving a foul after about three seconds trying to get a tie-up because the possession arrow was our way,” Beeman said. “We couldn’t get a foul. On the switch we just couldn’t get our big in front of the ball. She made a tough play.”

Sugapong finished with a game-high 17 points on 8-for-19 shooting and played the entire game. UCSD guard Parker Montgomery added 16 points, all in the first half, to help the Tritons lead 41-18 at intermission.

UC San Diego outscored Hawaii 22-4 in the first quarter and led by as many as 27 in the first half.

Down 23 at intermission, the only message to the team from the coaching staff was there was time to fight back.

“I think we just emphasized the point that we have more time than we think,” said reserve forward Brooklyn Rewers, who scored eight of her 10 points in the fourth quarter. “In the halftime we kind of centered ourselves and took the weight off of our shoulders of the pressure we were putting ourselves in. Came back out and played our best and gave it our all.”

Hawaii needed a 34-8 run going back to a MeiLani McBee 3 late in the second quarter to tie the game with 1:10 remaining on a 3-point play by Rewers.

The Rainbow Wahine, who trailed 47-29 going into the fourth quarter, scored the first 15 points and held the Tritons without a bucket for nearly eight minutes to get within three at 47-44.

After a Sugapong layup, UH responded with a driving layup to cut it back to a one-possession game.

Sugapong turned it over on UCSD’s next two possessions and Wahinekapu found Rewers on a roll to the basket for the and-1 play that tied the game up.

UCSD scored only four points in the fourth quarter and was outscored 31-10 in the second half, but still held on for the win, ending a streak of five consecutive losses to the Rainbow Wahine.

“I have to give credit to our team for withstanding their runs,” UC San Diego coach Heidi VanDerveer said. “I feel like throughout the season we have learned to win. I think Hawaii, Irvine and Davis have all been here before at this level and now we are learning how to be a champion.”

Sugapong, a first-team All-Big West selection; Sabrina Ma, the Big West Newcomer of the Year; and Montgomery all never left the floor. Guard Gracie Gallegos played 39 minutes and led all players with 10 rebounds.

“I don’t think we were tight, I really don’t,” Beeman said of the bad start. “I just think we struggled, for whatever reason, with execution, and the way they punched us in the mouth in the first quarter really kind of shocked us. I felt like we were prepared. I felt like we were loose. I felt like we were confident. I felt like the stars have aligned. Definitely didn’t overlook them.”

Wahinekapu finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists in 35 minutes to lead UH, which will play in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament beginning Thursday. The selection show for the 32-team field is Sunday after the 64-team field in the NCAA Tournament is released.