When the Rainbow Wahine take the floor tonight at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, N.M., they'll seek not just to advance to the second round of the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournament for the first time under head coach Jim Bolla but to spit the bitter aftertaste of a blown 19-point lead on senior night against the homestanding New Mexico State Aggies.

The sixth-seeded Rainbows (12-17 overall, 6-10 in the WAC) face the No. 3 Aggies at 3 p.m. Hawai'i time.

The Aggies (21-8, 11-5) defeated the Rainbows in their two previous meetings this year: a 71-53 thumping in Las Cruces in January, and a 59-58 heartbreaker in the Rainbows' final home game last Saturday.

UH led the latter by 19 points in the first half before succumbing to a season-long propensity for turning over the ball in bunches. The Aggies trailed the entire game until Danisha Corbett sank the game-winning shot with 10 seconds left.

After the game, a defiant Tanya Smith vowed to get revenge on the Aggies' home court.

"Let's beat them at their house," Smith said. "I am (upset).

"They're beatable," she said. "We were there. We had them. If we cut down on our turnovers, we have them."

Turnovers have been an Achilles' heel throughout the Rainbows' wayward campaign this season. Despite outrebounding opponents by nearly six boards per game, UH has seen game after game slip away in a flurry of broken connections.

This season, they have turned over the ball 24 times per game, an average of 6.5 more times than their opponents.

UH has played impressively when it's been able to maintain ball control — last Saturday, they turned over the ball just 10 times in the first half while building a seemingly bulletproof lead over the Aggies — underscoring Bolla's repeated assertion that three or four fewer turnovers per game could have made a huge impact on the team's record.

Yet, despite the turnover problem, the Rainbows have shown marked improvement over the past few weeks, going a respectable 4-4 with the current starting lineup of Smith, Amy Kotani, Saundra Cariaga, Megan Tinnin and Tara Hittle.

Hittle (16 points vs. the Aggies), junior sharpshooter Tinnin (25 vs. Idaho) and freshman point guard Keisha Kanekoa (24 vs. Louisiana Tech) have each notched career scoring highs in the last two weeks.

"We've been playing better and this is a good time to peak," said Hittle. "I think we're starting to figure out how we play together. We're trying to bring out the best in every player."

And while Smith, the second-leading rebounder in the nation with 11.8 boards per game, has been steady on both ends of the court all year, Hittle, who joined the team at midseason, has evolved from X-factor to indispensible asset with her physical post play and relentless pursuit of the ball.

The junior forward has averaged 9.1 points and 9.4 rebounds since becoming a starter.

With reserve center Iwona Zagrobelna lost for the season because of a dislocated patella, the Rainbows will need Smith and Hittle to avoid foul trouble and continue their thankless work in the post to have a shot at advancing.

The Aggies will be a tough out, to be sure. First-team All-WAC selection Sherell Neal (14.9 points, 10.6 rebounds per game) and Anikia Jawara (13.9 ppg, 6 rpg) are formidable in the frontcourt, and WAC All-Freshman honoree Madison Spence has blossomed into a dependable option at guard.

The Rainbows aren't intimidated.

"When we play them next time," senior point guard Kotani said last week, "it will be different."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.