By Billy Hull Star-Advertiser
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The wins keep piling up for a Hawaii women’s basketball team closing in on another first-place regular-season finish in the Big West Conference.

Senior guard Kelsie Imai scored a game-high 12 points with four rebounds, three assists and two steals to lead the Rainbow Wahine to a 49-44 win over UC Irvine on Saturday at Bren Events Center in Irvine, Calif.

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It’s the 13th consecutive win for Hawaii.

Imani Perez added 10 points and five rebounds and Ritorya Tamilo finished with eight points and 10 boards for Hawaii (18-6, 13-2 Big West), which earned a regular-season sweep of the Anteaters (16-8, 10-4) to take control of the race for the top seed in league play.

Hawaii is two games up on UC Irvine in the loss column with five games to play after the Anteaters lost twice this week.

UH’s 13-game winning streak is the seventh longest in program history. It has finished first in the conference two of the previous three seasons.

“We just have a team that believes,” Hawaii coach Laura Beeman said in a phone interview. “We have a team that is gritty. This is a really, really difficult road trip against two really good teams. This is a hard trip for us, and so for these guys to find a way, we just have to continue to get better.”

UH outrebounded UCI 46-35 and held the Anteaters to 24.1% (14-for-58) shooting from the field.

Hawaii held the Anteaters to fewer than 45 points in both wins this season.

“I think Imani Perez is the difference,” Beeman said. “When you can put her length on someone like Hunter Hernandez, who I think is a tremendous player — one of the best players in the conference — and for her to be shut down and held to eight points. I think our length is making a difference on some of these impact players.”

UH used nine players, with senior Mia ‘Uhila missing her first game of the season after slipping on the floor in Thursday’s win at Long Beach State.

Hawaii turned the ball over on its first three possessions and eight times total in a first quarter in which it still doubled up the Anteaters 16-8.

The Rainbow Wahine knocked down six of their nine shot attempts, with MeiLani McBee and Lily Wahinekapu both connecting from long range.

UC Irvine started cold from the field, shooting 18.8% (3-for-16) from the field and missing all nine of its 3-point attempts.

Hernandez connected from 3-point range for the Anteaters’ first triple in 12 attempts and UCI went on a 16-2 run to lead by as many as five in the second quarter.

A jumper from Perez and a layup by Imai helped UH close to 24-23 at intermission.

“That zone affected us,” Beeman said. “We weren’t moving the ball real well. We needed to close some things up. We gave up way too many offensive boards in the first half.”

Hawaii took a 37-34 lead into the fourth quarter on Kira-May Filemu’s putback in the key to beat the third-quarter buzzer.

It was the first field goal scored by a player off the bench in 13 attempts.

Filemu scored again on a jumper early in the fourth quarter to put UH ahead 41-34.

Olivia Williams answered with a 3-pointer for the Anteaters to cut the deficit to four, but UCI never get any closer.

Hawaii shot 10-for-10 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter, with Imai making six.

Imai had one turnover in a team-high 34 minutes while predominantly running the offense with Wahinekapu playing off the ball.

“This is not the first game she has done it,” Beeman said. “She is limiting her turnovers. She is confident in what she is doing. Right now Kelsie has been the ultimate x-factor in what she is doing for us on both sides of the ball.”

Hawaii returns home for a single game Saturday against UC San Diego.