The Hawaii women’s basketball team came out flat in its 2017-18 Big West opener, then left Titan Gym deflated.

To the dismay of coach Laura Beeman, her Rainbow Wahine fell behind Cal State Fullerton at the outset and spent the rest of the game futilely attempting to catch up in what became a 69-57 defeat on Thursday night.

“We missed a couple of assignments on shooters and I think they were up 7-2 before you knew it,” Beeman said in a postgame phone interview. “We had some missed layups and some easy bunnies that we just didn’t put away, then their lead just kind of grew. We gave up 20 points in the first quarter, and you just can’t do that. Teams in the Big West are too good.”

UH (7-7, 0-1 BWC) had its seven-game winning streak against the Titans (6-8, 1-0) snapped, despite 23 points from Sarah Toeaina on 9-for-16 shooting.

UH trailed 20-12 after a quarter, but rallied within two and trailed 35-29 at halftime.

The margin was just 48-46 going into the fourth. Then UH was outscored 21-11 in the final period.

“We played catch-up all night, made a nice little run in the third quarter and just, something happened in the fourth quarter,” Beeman said. “I think we started pressing a little bit. I think we got out of our offense and lost our continuity. We just couldn’t get stops.”

The Titans, in their first year under former Hawaii Pacific coach Jeff Harada, shot 24-for-28 (85.7 percent) at the free-throw line to UH’s 8-for-11, and outrebounded the Wahine by 11.

Besides Toeaina’s efficient night, points were hard to come by. Julissa Tago had 11 points, six rebounds and a career-best eight assists. Point guard Tia Kanoa scored 11, but the Salanoa twins, Lahni and Leah, were scoreless on a combined 0-for-5 shooting.

“We couldn’t hit shots. We had wide-open looks, and just couldn’t hit shots tonight,” Beeman said. “We were able to isolate Toe against some smaller guards and she did a great job, but overall our shooting percentage was pretty poor (41.1 percent).”

Jade Vega led CSUF with 19 points, and Daeja Smith added 14 points and 10 rebounds.

UH continues play at UC Davis (11-3, 1-0) on Saturday. The Aggies beat UC Irvine 76-67 on Thursday.