Hawai'i's Dita Liepkalne grabs a defensive rebound in front of Fresno State's Tierre Wilson, right, and teammate Iwona Zagrobelna, left, during the first half of today's game in Las Cruces, N.M. Associated Press/Jake Schoellkopf

Perera scored 10 of her 12 first half points in the first nine minutes as Fresno State (17-12, 10-7) grabbed a 20-6 lead. Perera finished the game with 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting.

Thigpin finished with 13 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.

With the win the Bulldogs advance to Friday's semifinal round.

Janevia Taylor led the Wahine (15-14, 9-8) with 12 points on 5 of 24 shooting. As a team, Hawaii shot 26 percent for the game and trailed by double figures during most of the game despite a 25-10 rebounding advantage over the Bulldogs.

Hawaii had a 46-35 overall rebounding edge for the game.

"I thought we did a great job in most aspects," said Fresno State head coach Adrian Wiggins. "I thought we could've done a better job of blocking out."

The Bulldogs trailed 2-0 to start the game but took the lead on a 20-4 run and never looked back as they shot 57 percent from the field and scored 16 points on 9 turnovers in the first half.

"We did a good job on offense of getting good shots," Perera said. "We want to finish the season strong. We want to do good things. We came out and played well. We got different people involved."

Fresno State was up 42-23 going into the half and padded its lead in the second half despite poor shooting.

The Bulldogs cooled off in the start of the second half, scoring only four points in the first 10 minutes.

But the Wahine couldn't take advantage as they, too, struggled by scoring just five points during the same stretch.