The Hawaii women’s basketball team was unprepared to take the next step.

"We’re just not ready, we’re just not there yet," first-year coach Laura Beeman lamented after her team lost 64-52 at last-place UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon.

UH (11-11 overall) wrapped up its 10-day road trip at 2-1. Normally that would constitute success, but not when bigger things are within reach. The Rainbow Wahine remained in second place in the Big West Conference at 7-4 thanks to Cal Poly’s loss at UC Davis.

The loss was still costly. A win at Irvine (6-17, 2-9) would have moved UH into a first-place tie with Pacific at 8-3. The Tigers were upset at home by UC Santa Barbara; the Gauchos made it a three-way tie for second.

Beeman was kicking herself about that. Seven games remain to determine which two teams will receive a double bye to the semifinals of the Big West tournament. The good news is UH has five of those seven at home, starting with UC Davis on Thursday.

"We had our destiny in our hands," Beeman said.

The Anteaters (6-17, 2-9) were 0-8 this season at Bren Events Center entering the day. Now, two of UH’s four conference losses are to the bottom two teams, Cal State Fullerton and UC Irvine.

The Anteaters zoned up on defense and encouraged UH to launch from the perimeter — not a team strength, but the Wahine obliged, going 4-for-20 from beyond the arc, compared to a sizzling 8-for-12 for UC Irvine.

"We didn’t execute. We were both mentally and physically tired tonight," Beeman said.

UC Irvine guard Jennifer Tsurumoto went off for a career-high 27 points. Junior forward Kamilah Martin led UH with 12 points and a season-high 19 rebounds, but no one else reached double figures in any category as the Wahine shot 31 percent (18-for-58) from the field.

"I think today they thought they could just show up and win," Beeman said of her players. "The good thing is, they have that kind of confidence. The bad thing is, we’re not there yet. So we have to kind of check that a little bit. Keep it in perspective, definitely."

UH trailed 24-18 after an anemic first half by both teams. UC Irvine heated up after the break, though, and led by 15 before a 10-0 UH run brought the visitors to within 39-34 with 9:40 to play.

The Anteaters had two layups and a 3-pointer for the game’s next seven points and were not challenged again.