After crisscrossing the pool for 32 minutes of regulation and another seven-plus in overtime, Nikki-Marie Bell saved herself and her University of Hawaii teammates a few more laps with the last of her five goals on Saturday.

The Rainbow Wahine center found an opening in front of the net and her final goal of the night gave the fourth-ranked UH water polo team a 10-9 win over No. 9 UC Davis in a Big West match at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.

“Our coach told me to just not think about, just go in there and shoot, and I was lucky enough to get good separation off the defender and put it to a corner, and I really did not want to swim again,” Bell said.

UH (17-5, 2-0 Big West) rallied from a 5-2 deficit in the third quarter to tie it up going into the fourth. The Wahine answered after falling behind two more times in the fourth quarter and freshman Irene Gonzalez scored two of her four goals in the first three-minute overtime period to give UH its first lead of the night.

UC Davis (14-10, 0-2) responded with two goals from Bryn Lutz in the second OT to force yet another and Bell ended the night 1:18 into the final period with her season-high fifth score.

“You’re tired, but we have a great team, we’re really well conditioned. And in that game you didn’t have time to think about being tired,” Bell said. “All of us had so much adrenaline and just here for each other.”

In facing a three-goal deficit in the second half, UH coach Maureen Cole said the Wahine “don’t care. They’re just going to go for it the entire time.”

“They never lost hope when we were down three. When we went up two we fell asleep for a minute there, but it didn’t rattle us. Momentum swung their way and we found a way to get the last goal, so that’s impressive.”

Bell scored UH’s first three goals to keep the Wahine close, and UH’s counter attack opened up Gonzalez and Femke Aan for goals to erase the deficit. The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter to end regulation at 7-7 and the overtime at 9-9 before Bell powered in one more score.

“She was an animal in there today,” Cole said. “When the ball came in, she was explosive, and no one can shoot the ball harder than her.”

Bell redshirted last season as a junior-college transfer, but Cole credited her rugged work on the scout team as a key to UH’s run to the Big West title. All the while, both eagerly awaited Bell’s opportunity to contribute on game nights.

“It was such a long year just to be a redshirt,” Bell said. “It just makes these games so much more important and fun because I finally get to play this year.”

UH hits the road for matches at Cal State Northridge and UC Santa Barbara and closes the regular season with its home finale against Long Beach State on April 16.