At the start of the week, a double bye into the Big West tournament semifinals was possible, but certainly not probable, for the up-and-down Hawaii women’s basketball team.

On Saturday at Cal State Northridge’s Matadome, the improbable became reality for a team on the up and up. UH pulled off a 69-68 win, its third straight, clinching the No. 2 seed via tiebreaker.

Thanks to Saturday’s effort — it came against the team that held them to 29 points in a January loss — and a gritty six-point win at UC Riverside on Thursday, the Rainbow Wahine (14-15, 10-6 BWC) will bypass the first and second rounds at UC Irvine and will await the highest-seeded advancing team in a Friday matchup at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif.

UH lost its top scorer and rebounder Makenna Woodfolk to an announced pregnancy two weeks ago. It took a little while (two losses) to calibrate chemistry.

“I could not be more proud of this team,” coach Laura Beeman said in a postgame phone interview. “From all of the adversity that we’ve gone through this year, for them to come together the way they have these last three games, (to) execute, (have) energy, believe in each other. I’m just incredibly proud.

“We had a little water celebration (in the locker room), a little water spray going on by the girls. Just a lot of screaming, a lot of tears. Just a lot of, ‘guys we did this.’ ”

UH leapfrogged the Matadors and Highlanders (both 10-6) in the standings by virtue of being the only team to defeat regular-season champion UC Davis, the top seed.

The Rainbow Wahine, who led most of the way at CSUN, went up 67-60 on a putback by Jadynn Alexander with 4:50 remaining. The Matadors scored six straight, but center Lauren Rewers hit a clutch baseline jumper with 1:15 left for a three-point lead.

After Eliza Matthews scored a basket for the Matadors and UH’s Amy Atwell missed a 3, it came down to a final CSUN shot with 15 seconds on the clock. UH got a deflection, causing a busted play, and Rewers (10 points, nine rebounds, four blocks), who enjoyed her best game against her nemesis Channon Fluker, helped contest the CSUN center’s look at a game-winning 3 at the buzzer. The ball rimmed out.

“It was just a sigh of relief. We were happy,” Rewers said. “All that we worked for paid off.”

Fluker had 20 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks, but had to work for everything.

“I thought Lauren Rewers was fantastic tonight on Channon Fluker,” Beeman said. “(Fluker) was only 8-for-22 with three free throws. That’s probably the lowest free-throw output she’s had all year long.”

Said Rewers, “It just came down to, I just was playing. I wasn’t thinking. I bought in to the coaches’ schemes and I trusted my teammates. They were there for me, even the highs and lows. When Fluker blocked my shot, or little things that happened, they’d pick me up.”

Atwell scored 18 points to lead UH, while Leah Salanoa added 16. Atwell and Salanoa combined to shoot 8-for-12 on 3-pointers. Point guard Tia Kanoa had 10 assists and one turnover.

Serafina Maulupe scored a game-high 24 points on 10-for-16 shooting for CSUN.

“We didn’t do this to lose. We have two games now. And that’s the goal,” Beeman said.