FULLERTON, Calif. >> That Big West championship season of 2016 is getting tougher and tougher for Laura Beeman to spot in the rear-view mirror.

Her Rainbow Wahine finished 12-18 for the second straight season, with a second straight early round loss to Cal State Northridge, 62-57 on Tuesday night at Cal State Fullerton.

Last March, they staved off elimination for a game by making it to the second round. This time, they were one and done as the last seed to qualify for the tourney.

An aura of discontentment emanated from the Titan Gym locker room occupied postgame by the Rainbow Wahine.

“There has to be a change,” Beeman said in a phone interview a day later. “What are you going to do? Talking about it is great, but talking about it gets you eighth place. That was the message in the locker room from coaches and players alike. So our offseason has to be better.”

UH loses just one senior, but it’s one of the program’s all-time greats in four-year guard Sarah Toeaina, who finished ninth in scoring at 1,204 points and was a team leader in every sense.

Toeaina had to shoulder an outsized load and lacked a clear-cut scoring sidekick much of the season. UH went into the last week of the regular season not knowing for sure if it’d stay out of last place and make the cut for the Big West tournament. It did, narrowly, going 5-11 in conference play.

The Wahine had myriad setbacks throughout the year that seemed to have a cumulative effect — one of the team’s two point guards, Olivia Crawford, left in the preseason for personal reasons; forward Keleah-Aiko Koloi was another roster loss as a medical disqualification; young post players Taylor Donohue and Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard missed most of the season with injuries; assistant coach Darron Larsen of New Zealand was deported at midseason for a federal work visa issue; and on it went.

“I have a lot of faith in the group coming back,” Beeman said. “I absolutely love these girls. They didn’t want to lose this year either, they didn’t want to have the season that we had. They didn’t ask for all the adversity we went through this year. And they were very, very resilient. But now it’s time to put our money where our mouth is.”

Beeman expects to have three scholarships to carry into this offseason, besides the one assigned last fall to 5-foot-10 forward Myrrah Joseph of Carson (Calif.) High School. Beeman has compared Joseph’s skill-set to that of former player Destiny King. She’s targeting a point guard to help relieve minutes from senior-to-be Tia Kanoa, a perimeter player who can defend and reduce blow-bys, and a shooter to complement twins Lahni and Leah Salanoa, who were hot and cold.

Secondary scorers Julissa Tago (9.4 ppg) and Kenna Woodfolk (8.9) were also inconsistent with production. Division I transfers Kanoa and energy player Rachel Odumu brought help in other areas but struggled to shoot from the field. It was clear that Australian freshmen Amy Atwell and Courtney Middap were still getting used to the American college game.

Clinch Hoycard emerged as a raw but upcoming player late in the season and 6-foot-4 center Lauren Rewers showed flashes, but UH has a long way to go to close the gap with bigs the likes of CSUN’s two-time player of the year, Channon Fluker, and first-place UC Davis’ Morgan Bertsch, who are juniors.

“Some people are going to have to step up. Not going to the playoffs is unacceptable for this program,” Beeman said. “(Athletic director) David Matlin isn’t keeping me on staff to go eighth place and get knocked out first round. It’s just not acceptable, and I’m aware of that. It’s not pressure, it’s reality, and it’s my job to step up and make a change.”

Beeman and Matlin have discussed a multi-year contract extension, both parties said.

Toeaina’s 16.5 senior scoring average was the program’s highest average since Raylene Howard put up 17.1 in 1999-00. Toeaina’s 52.2 percent shooting from the field was a full 10 percentage points better than her junior year.

Kanoa, an Arizona State transfer, finished second in UH single-season assists with 154 and her per-game average of 5.1 is percentage points better than the previous record-holder, BJ Itoman (1997-98). Kanoa dished 12 dimes in the season-ending loss to CSUN, tying the UH single-game record set by Tricia Stringam against New Mexico State on March 8, 1992.

Lahni Salanoa hit 47 3-pointers, the seventh-highest haul in a season and eight off Megan Tinnin’s record 55.